


Duty of an Heir

by StardustMystic



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2020-03-20 11:43:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 33,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18991981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StardustMystic/pseuds/StardustMystic
Summary: Ok so I don't normally write stories, this is just a fun project I made because I was bored. Not to mention my friends seemed to like where this is headed so I might go back and do old chapters like 1, 2 and 3.





	1. Beginning of the First Heir

**Author's Note:**

> Ok so I don't normally write stories, this is just a fun project I made because I was bored. Not to mention my friends seemed to like where this is headed so I might go back and do old chapters like 1, 2 and 3.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war of the first world has finished. The angelic powers are weakened, but the mortal who saved them in the war is now on trial in front of the god Elppans, who is unsure on what to do to the hero.

     Here I was with my daughter Victoria, under trial by god and his angels. I hope I did nothing wrong, after all I just did what felt right in protecting the angelic powers against us mortal's dark mages.

     The singing of the harps stop as the darkness of the room vanishes upon the arrival of Elppans, God of the Angels, revealing eight pillars. Seven of them with an angel peering down onto us.

     Elppans walks onto his pillar and points down at me. "Vic Tyran, you are here to explain to us on why you aided us in the war. Please step forward."

     I step in front of Victoria, following Elppans' orders. "Yes sir."

     Elppans laughs. "Now why would you aid us in a war against you mortals?"

     I clear my throat. "Because those people that you fought sacrificed many innocent lives to their magic. Their power was beyond even the most powerful of creatures."

     Elppans scoffs. "We designed you mortals to be weaker than us, your efforts in assisting us were not necessary." 

     I smile and stare directly into Elppans' eyes. "I witnessed them absorb the power of three different angels."

     The council of angels gasp and turn their heads to Elppans.

     Elppans rolls his eyes. "That's impossible, the power the angels possess can not be absorbed by any means of mortal magic." Elppans summons his poleaxe to his hand. "Which means you are lying in my halls."

     Victoria pushes me aside and faces Elppans. "My father is not a liar! What he says is true!"

     Elppans and seven of the angels laugh, with the last one speaking up. "He is not lying." She summons a scroll in her hands and reads out three names. "Ada, Diene, and Montmorancy."

     The council falls silent as Elppans stands up from his chair. "Montmorancy? That can not be possible..."

     The angel speaks again. "With her power, the mortals could have wiped us off our sanctuaries easily. Even you sir, would struggle against a mortal with Montmorancy's power."

     Elppans takes off his crown and sets it on his chair. "That means we should reward this mortal for stopping a disaster..."

     The angel flies down to me and puts her hands on my head, staring into my eyes. "This man is a guardian type." She turns to Elppans. "Maybe we need someone down in the mortal world with our power, at the ready when we need them most."

     Elppans rubs his chin. "But Aria, how can we trust that one? How do we know that they can be trusted?"

     Aria looks down and returns to her pillar. "Maybe we can assign an angel to them?"

     Elppans paces back and forth on his cloud. "We lost a fair amount of angels in the war, we can not provide such a thing."

     The council gather together with Elppans, all whispering with one another.

     I look down at Victoria, her eyes are filled with fear and confusion. "Victoria are you alright?"

     Victoria nods. "Yes dad, I am just wondering what will happen to us..."

     I hug her tight as the council returns to their pillars.

     Elppans sits down on his chair. "We have decided that we couldn't do anything for you, we lack angels to support Aria's idea, and we don't have anything else that we want to provide.”

     Everyone falls silent filling the room with an ambient hum.

     “I’ll do it...”

     We all look at Victoria.

     Victoria looks up at Elppans. “Make me an angel, I will be his guardian.”

     Elppans and the council laugh at Victoria, making her shy away behind me.

     Aria comes to our defence. “Make her an angel.” She glides down to our platform and holds her hand against Victoria’s forehead. “I’ll teach this one everything I know.”

     Elppans scratches his chin. “If we make her an angel, you are taking full responsibility.”   
       
     Aria shrugs. “I don’t mind, we council members do nothing most of the time anyways.” Aria smiles. “You forget I am the angel of knowledge too.”

     Elppans picks up his poleaxe and floats down to Victoria. “You better make sure I won’t regret this.” He holds out his hand.

     Victoria shakes his hand. “I will do what I need to.”

     Elppans fades away through a pillar of light along with the seven other angels, leaving me with Victoria and Aria.

      Victoria looks up to me and gives me a hug. “I will protect you dad.”

      I get down on one knee and squeeze her tight. “You know I won’t let you risk your life protecting me right?”

      Aria let’s out a quiet laugh. “Victoria will be much stronger than now, after her ascension.”

      Victoria smiles with tears in her eyes. “Hear that dad? I won’t be a fragile flower anymore.”

      Aria closes her eyes. “I sense the world builders gathering. I recommend that I take Victoria into my chambers for her ascension.”

      Victoria let’s go of me and stands beside Aria. “I’ll see you again dad.”

      I smile. “One day.”

      Aria and Victoria exit through a portal leaving me in the judgement hall alone.   
        
      There goes my little girl. Now I wait for her to come back home.

      The walls begin to crack with light seeping out between them. Before I could react, the room flashed with a bright light.


	2. Birth of the World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vic wakes up in his home with his girlfriend Ashley. They decide to go out for a date in the cafe but Ashley has some other things on her mind she would like to try out.

     I wake up from a long dream. I fell asleep at my desk again from writing.

     As I get up from my desk, someone opens the door. “Vic?”

     I turn to the door. “Hi Ashley.”

     Ash comes inside and gives me a hug. “You missed out date night yesterday when you fell asleep...”

     I rub my eyes. "I'm sorry, would you like to go out now?"

     Ash rolls her eyes. "Sure." She grabs my hand and pulls me towards the door. "So where are we going?"

     I grab my hat and coat. "I don't know, it's up to you." I open the door for Ash

     Ash giggles. "The tavern!"

     I slam the door immediately. "How about the cafe? The tavern seems too rowdy for a date..."

     Ash smiles. "It's because you don't want me drunk huh?"

     I open the door and let her go through. "Of course, we both know what happens when we get home."

     Ash turns around smiling. "I thought you like it when I pin you down?"

     I blush. "Yeah but you like to use your ribbon blade while you do that..."

     Ash laughs as I lock the door, grabbing my hand as we start our walk through the noisy streets of the city. The city looked grey and dull, dirty as ever too. When winter comes, the white snow makes the stone buildings more attractive, plus the cold temperatures reduce the people roaming around, which means less dirt from mud and such.

     I look down at Ash beside me noticing she is not wearing her normal city attire. She was wearing hotpants with a white crop top and an opened blue leather cropped jacket, all topped off with armour.

     She looks up at me. "Is something wrong?"

     I turn to the front. "Why are you wearing your adventuring outfit?"

     She looks down at her feet. "I was thinking we could go out of the city..."

     "What do you mean outside of the city?" I ask, confused on why.

     Ash sighs. "Outside as in not inside. I want to go out again and explore like back when we were kids."

     I roll my eyes. "You know that no one is allowed outside of the city since the death of the prince right?"

     Ash giggles. "That's why we sneak out of the-"

     I cover Ash's mouth with my hand as some city guards pass by.

    She pushes my hand away. "As I was saying, we could sneak out of here."

     I kneel down and grab her shoulders. "If we go out, we can't get back in."

     Ash looks down and nods.

     I get up and hug her tight. "You know I would do that if we could."

     Ash rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

     We continue to walk through the streets and alleys of the city, all the way to the cafe.

     I open the door for Ash and immediately we were hit with a scent of vanilla.

     One of the baristas behind the counter sees us and waves. "Welcome back!" She smiles. "Tera fog and a hot chocolate?"

     Ash nods and turns to me. "She recognized us!"

     We both take a seat at the counter. waiting for our drinks.

     I glance at the barista's hair, she had fan-shaped ornaments in her hair, keeping her spiraling pigtails up.

     Ash nudges me. "Hey! I said no side hoes!"

     I laugh. "No Ash, look at her hair, don't those ornaments look like the ones from that mercenary queen that used to be here all the time?"

     Ash squints her eyes at the ornaments. "Yeah, they do look like that."

     The barista comes back around the corner with our drinks and sits with us. "So what are you two up to?"

     Ash picks up her mug and blows on her hot chocolate. "We were thinking of going outside of the city."

     The barista tilts her head. "Isn't the city in lockdown?"

     I nod my head. "Yes, so us going outside is not an option."

     The barista laughs. "Actually, if you two joined two other people, gatekeepers will allow you to go outside with a mercenary contract."

     Ash's face lights up. "That sounds fun! Can we go on one Vic?"

     I look at both Ash and the barista. "We could, but we don't know anyone that could come with us, or even find someone with a contract."

     The barista gets up from her stool and looks around the empty cafe. "Follow me." She heads towards the back room.

     Ash happily hops from her seat and follows the barista, dragging me by the hand.

     The barista takes us into a dressing room in the back and locks the door. "I have an offer for you." She takes off her uniform, revealing a familiar red dress.

     Ash gasps. "Pretty..."

     I study the dress. It was one that an old mercenary queen wore. What are the chances that this woman is her?

     The barista pulls out a folding fan from behind her back and opens it, posing like the old mercenary queen. "I am Elizabeth Pearce, Ex-Queen of the Mercenaries." She reaches into her bag and pulls out a contract. "I have this contract from this mystic requesting that we head to the ruins for it's core."

     Ash gasps. "Does this mean you're asking us to help you?"

     Elizabeth rolls her eyes. "I just need you two to come so I can go out of the city. After we are out, we can split ways and meet back up at the city gates."

     "Wouldn't it be better if we watched your back?" I ask, still unsure of the dangers outside of the city.

     Elizabeth scoffs. "I doubt you two are at my skill level and experience when it comes to contracts, I can hold my own."

     I grab the contract from Elizabeth and read the text. "It says here that the giver of the contract wants everyone together." I show the part to Elizabeth.

     Elizabeth rolls her eyes. "Looks like this will take longer than expected... In that case, feel free to call me 'Eliza' since that's what the mercenary runts at the tavern used to call me."

     Ash grabs my hand and pulls me to the door. "Then that means we should get ready!"

     Eliza hands me a copy of the contract. "Take this so you don't forget."

     I nod my head and leave the cafe, going down the streets back home with Ash. "Well it looks like we are going out of the city Ash."

     Ash smiles. "I'm already prepared, so that means I can help you get ready!"

     I laugh. "It's fine Ash, I don't think you know how to handle runes in my office."

     Ash looks down at the ground. "I can try..."

     I pat her head with a smile. "I don't want you getting hurt but any of them, that's all."

     We walk the rest of the way home in silence. By the time we returned, Ash immediately goes inside of her room exhausted.

     I open the door into my office, noticing how dusty all the books and runes are. I open a drawer in my desk, pulling out a stack of runecards. "I haven't touched these in years." I pull out a yellow card with the name armour engraved into the top. After pulling the card out, I slide it into the center of the room, activating it once it landed. As the runecard did it's work, I pushed the piles of books to the side, exposing a glass case that held my runesword and scepter. I take out the weapons from the case and turn to see the runecard finishing it's magic, leaving a stand of armour in the middle of the room.

     I pick up the armour in my hands and study the runes. They all had a steel fiber rune, making the cloth as durable as the strongest metals in kings armour. But the gloves had a very special rune, nicknamed "The Pacifist" a rune so powerful that muttering the Kryptorian word; "Gachinisl." caused the creature you were touching into a deep sleep.

    I take off my casual coat and put on my old armour, staring at myself in the mirror. Last time I was wearing this, I slayed several rune golems only to harvest their runes. I put on my belt and holstered my weapons. The gold metallic surface of my sword and scepter matched well with the white and deep purple robe I was wearing.

    I walk out of my office and lock the door, wearing all of my equipment. I open the door to Ash's room to check on her sleeping, she was sitting on the bed awake.

    She looks at me. "I can't sleep..." She lays down in her bed with room on her left side. "Can you sleep with me..?"

    I nod and take off my armour, sliding under the covers next to Ash letting her cuddle with me. "Goodnight."

    Ash didn't respond as she already fell asleep. I stare up to the ceiling wondering why we needed to go to the ruins. Shortly after, I felt my eyes closing. Leaving me in a deep slumber.


	3. Victoria's Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vic meets an familiar face in his dreams and follows Eliza out of the city.

      I open my eyes to a space of both darkness and light clashing together perfectly balanced. I get up from the bed and take a step on the ground feeling the grass and soft soil against the bottom of my foot. I was no longer in Ash's room, I don't think I am even in reality anymore.

     I walk down the sandy path looking around at the trees and flowers on this island I found myself on. As I walked down the path I came to a small wooden bridge that connected two islands together that both appear to be floating. I look down from the bridge finding myself staring into the the abyss of both light and darkness. I step foot on the next island noticing how the path constructs itself the closer I am to the edge. The path ends in front of a fountain with a giant flower pod gently floating down from a beam of light in the sky. The pod touches the ground releasing a pink fog from the bottom as it blooms open revealing a little girl. She opens her eyes and looks at me with a smile.

     "Hello Vic...." she softly spoke, slowly walking down the flower petals towards me.

     I did not recognize her, however I feel that I have met her somewhere before...

     "I know you do not remember me but I am still happy to see you again." her feet steps onto the grass only to stop before me. "I am Victoria, we met in a previous life before this one." she smiles and closes her eyes as if she was concentrating or trying to remember something.

     What did she mean by a previous life? There is no magic or machine that allowed time travel... Besides, how does she remember me from a previous life if I can not remember anything myself?

     She opened her eyes, "Oh hush, there is several ways beyond any mortal's knowledge to manipulate the world around you, and once a new has been created, all mortals do not remember the previous one."

     I step back in surprise as she answers the questions I was thinking almost as if she knew that I'd think that...

     "Yes, I can read minds... Specifically only yours." she shot me a smug look.

     "Are you a Psion?" I ask, still unsure who she was yet her ability interested me.

     "Hardly, I am just a guardian angel sent by the god Elppans to watch over you." she says in a cheerful way.

      An angel... A guardian one specifically... It has been thousands of years since an angel appeared in front of a mortal.

     She giggles. "Well, I was assigned to be by your side ever since you became a heir..."

     Wait did she just say heir? I thought those were just stories... "What do you mean by heir?" I ask.

     She scratches her head trying to figure out how to explain. "Well, you were chosen by the gods and angels several worlds ago... Which makes you a mortal wielding angelic light..."

     I nod my head still in confusion only to realize how short she was. "You seem a bit small for an angel..."

     Her expression changed from kind and loving to an irritated death stare, "Just because I look like a little girl doesn't mean I'm not strong!" she turns and faces away from me because of my comment.

     I really didn't mind her size at all, she was cute at that height along with her dress and butterfly wings.

     She turns to me with her face fully red and shouts "Pervert!" she hides behind one of the flower petals, "I'm not cute..."

     "Anyways, what is this place?" I ask still stunned by the scenery

     She jumps out from behind the petal and takes my hand, "Oh this is my sanctuary, you like it?"

     I look around more looking at the tinted purple void around the islands. "Yeah, it's peaceful here.."

     She pulls me to the edge of the island and looks down into the abyss, "Well, Ash is trying to wake you up as we speak... It's time for you to return back..."

     "How do I leave?" I ask, despite the fact I want to stay here for a moment longer.

     Victoria stands behind me and puts her soft hands on my back, "Like this!" she quickly shoves me off the island and looks down at me as I fall down into the void.

 

* * *

 

     I wake up in Ash’s bed with her tugging my arm.

     "Come on, we gotta go you fatass!" she pulls my arm harder in an attempt to pull me off the bed.

     I fall off the bed onto the floor being. I get up and the blanket falls only for me to realize I was naked.

     Ash widens her eyes, "I see you had a good dream..." she keeps staring as she hands me my armour.

     "Maybe..." I get dressed and pet her, she closes her eyes and gives me a hug. "Are you ready to head out?"

     "Mhm!" she summons her ribbon blade and points to me. "Are you?"

     Show her my sword and scepter and head to the door. "Let's go."

     We walk outside towards the gates. 

     We see a large line of people at the gates, waiting to exit the city. I spot Eliza near the front of the line we go and join up with her, ready to head out.

     Eliza turns to us, "Well well well, its the perverted gremlin and his little lady. What took you guys so long?"

     "I woke up late, and for your information, it was Ash who stole your underwear."

     Eliza glares at Ash and tackles her, pinning Ash against the ground and tying her arms and legs up with her own ribbons.

     A man in the line behind us yelled out "Looks like there is a nice strumpet show going on haha!"

     Eliza gets up and off of Ash and throws her war fans at the man only to call it back when it was a paper away from between his eyes. "Mind your own business you dirty baboon!"

     The man falls back in shock and gets back in line and stays silent. Despite Eliza's pretty and elegant looks she was extremely scary.

     "Also Vic, I think you should meet our contract giver." Eliza taps a little girl's shoulder and tells her that I have arrived.

      The little girl turns around, "Hello Vic. It is nice seeing you again!" she smiles kindly.

     The little girl was Victoria. "Oh hello there." I reply, still wondering what she is doing.

      "Vic please help me..." Ash quietly says, still tied down on the ground.

      Eliza laughs, "Its impossible to get her out of anything I tie, only I can untie her due to my experiences in capturing beasts!"

      I crouch down beside Ash and undo the ribbons with ease with Eliza behind me with her jaw dropped shocked that I undid her knots.

     "How did you... No, that's not possible, only I can undo those. It’s my own hand tricks, no one else can..." Eliza paces around thinking how I done it.

     I have a rune in my gloves that allows me to bypass requirements on magical items, I've had the rune since I was little, my father gave it to me before he died.

     Eliza stops pacing and hands us some envelopes "These are your IDs, all on me don't worry."

     The guard at the front of the line called us, "Next!"

     We walk towards the guard and hand him our papers.

     "Ah, job offer... What is the purpose?" the guard asks.

     Eliza gives him her papers, "Relic hunting in the ruins."

     The guard stops, "I'm sorry ma'am but relic hunting is prohibited due to the recent events at the ruins." he gives Eliza her papers, "I'm sorry but I will have to deny entry-" 

     Victoria grabbed his arm for a few seconds.

     The guard opens the gate, "Good luck on your adventure."

     Victoria releases the guard's arm and follows us through the gate.

     We walk past the gate into a chamber with runes carved all over the walls. They were scanning runes, they scan for magical essences and will alert the creators if detected.

     I realized why they were put here. "Ash come here!" I grab her and hold her tight wrapping my reflection coat around the two of us. "Magic scanners, they won't allow us through if they detect us."

     The runes in the chamber deactivate and shortly after the final gates open. I felt the cool spring gust of air fill the room. We step outside looking around at the blooming flowers and the far mountain ranges caked with snow.  I can already see Ash's face light up to the view from up on top of the city mountain platform.

     Eliza breathes in and puts her hands on her hips, "Well? Let's head out already."

     Victoria turns around and looks at all of us, "I have a friend waiting out here for us, we should go to him first." she pulls a rune card out of her pocket, she activates it and a beam of green light rises from it, bending itself in the direction of Victoria's meeting spot.  "Hey Vic, you know how to get down from here?"

     I look at her and walk to the edge of the platform. "Oh yeah I know how." I grab Victoria's wrist and pull her close to me, I can already feel Ash getting mad and jealous.

     Victoria's face turns red as a rose, "V-Vic..?" she looks away shy, "We're too c-close..."

    I look down at her and smile, "Oh, sorry my bad." I turn her back against the ledge and push her off as I let go of her wrists. "We get down like this!" I grab Ash and hold her tight against me as I make us jump off the ledge.

     Eliza looks down at us, "What the..?" she backs away from the ledge, "I didn't know you guys are this exciting!" she runs towards the edge and does a front flip before diving down to catch up to us.

     While falling down I look around at the scenery, the mountain that houses the city was the tallest mountain in the area, surrounded by a dense forest with few openings revealing small lakes and water streams. The air was cool and has a scent of valley flowers, the rare and expensive ones you can bid on in the market of the city. I look down to see where we were landing. A small opening in the roof of the forest showing a small spot of path near a little water stream following the path. Just as we were about to land I pull out my scepter and cast a slow falling spell, allowing us to descend safely as we land.

     Victoria turns her back against me as I touch the ground with Ash, "I hate you so much right now! I could have died just because of you!"

     "I thought you could use your wings?" I ask, looking at her white butterfly wings on her back.

     "Oh yeah I have wings..." she turns around to face me, "I'm an idiot..." she looks down at her feet in shame.

     Eliza falls shortly after us and flaps her war fans to help her descend faster. "Who ever casted that slow fall spell... You are a weakling." she dusts off her armor and looks at all of us, "Well? Lets get going you lazy grunts!" she grabs her fans and follows the green beam.

     "Your friend there is an impatient one isn't she?" Victoria asks.

     "She is the old mercenary queen, she is probably tired of being treated as a lowlife and is eager to get her reputation back." I reply.

     We follow Eliza along the trail looking around the forest. Small creatures climb and swing from tree to tree as if they were playing a little game. Ash latches tight to me and only lets go to pet the bunnies that hop to her and Victoria seems to have befriended a squirrel.

     "Don't judge me Vic, I am only being friendly towards my angelic animal." Victoria says as she pets a squirrel that hopped on her hand. "As you know, I am part squirrel like those weird girls in your comics called "cat girls" or something like that."

     Ash looks up at me questioning why Victoria spoke to me out of no where.

     Victoria turns to Ash and gives her a friendly look, "Relax Ash, I am Vic's guardian angel, as with all guardians we can read the minds of the ones we choose to protect." she smiles and soon turns smug, "Like how he is thinking of doing things to that little butt you have."

     Ash blushes heavily and slaps me hard enough to leave a mark, "You pervert! You know you can just ask right?!"

    "First of all, I did not think that." I cast a healing spell to stop the pain, "Second, you were probably thinking about those things too."

     Victoria laughs and looks towards Eliza using her wings to fly towards her.

 

     After walking for a while I look down at Ash who is leaning on my arm sleepily, "You tired?"

     She leans more into me "Mhm..."

     I pick her up and carry her on my back allowing her to sleep. She drifts off into sleep almost instantly to the calm noises of the forest.

     Eliza turns and shouts to me, "Hey Vic! There is some action going on here!" she points towards an open field.

     I run towards her and look at where she is pointing. There were a group of mercenaries fighting a rune golem that was bigger than most of the trees of the forest. "Should we help them?"

     Eliza laughs, "Nah, those guys are cocky idiots! They have cheap equipment and are trying to take down a golem that is difficult for even the best of hunters!" she sits down and watches the mercenaries fight the giant golem struggling. "Of course it's easy for me, I've slayed over a hundred myself of course alone because no one is smart enough to aim for the heart of the golem.

     We hear one of the men in the group shout "Ikki!" as the dual sword mercenary gets nearly crushed by the foot of the golem. Eliza laughs even harder while the mercenary group slowly backs away from the golem.

     I lay Ash down on the soft grass, "I'm going to help them."

     Eliza grabs my arm, "We need you alive you know, there is no way you can do anything to that thing. Hell, I doubt you even know how to use a toy sword!"

     I pull my arm away from her "I'm still going. Someone needs to help." I dash towards the golem, sword and scepter drawn.

     Eliza watches me run towards them, "Sometimes I question why people refuse to listen to intelligent beings..." she looks at Victoria "Looks like we can't get that core you wanted."

     Victoria smiles, "No, just watch him, he may surprise you."

     I look around my surroundings, and watch the golem's attacks noticing a little pattern. The golem swings it's arm down against the ground beside the group and slams its other arm on the other side, trapping the group between it and a rock.

     I quickly cast a teleportation spell placing me in the middle of the group and cast a barrier around us as the golem tries to crush us with it's arms. "I hope this barrier holds..." the golem smashes against the barrier trying to break through, I burst the barrier, pushing with a force hard enough to knock the golem down on it's back.

     The group of mercenaries look around wondering what saved them from the golem only to notice me in the center of the group. A man looks at me and asks "Who are you?"

      "You can call me Vic, save your thanks for later as that golem is still active." I ready my blade and charge at the golem as it tries to get up, slicing through one of it's legs with the molten heat of my runesword turning the leg into rubble. 

     The rubble from the golem shakes on the ground and lifts itself up towards the broken leg reforming it into one solid stone. The golem stands up and prepares to swing it's arm again, I run towards the newly formed leg of the golem and started to climb the leg making my way to the golem's torso. The golem swings it's arm against itself in hopes to knock me off or crush me but it misses and takes out another one of his legs, almost making me lose my grip as it fell on the field.

     I keep focusing on making my way towards the heart of the golem slowly but steadily climbing. The golem prepares to slam his arm again to crush me before I can reach his heart. The golem swings his arm towards me and right before it crushes me, I jump onto the arm and run up the arm making slashes as I run, cutting the arm into rubble. I hop onto his shoulder and fully cut off the arm revealing a rune engraved in it's shoulder.

     It was a formation rune, used for constructing buildings in the city. I never knew that it can create creatures...  I climb down the shoulder towards the golem's heart and ready to pierce it's thick armor of rock striking it's heart. I pull my blade back and just as I jab it into the golem's chest as a blade penetrates the golem from the back and strikes the heart with it, making the golem fall over and crash into rubble when it hits the ground. I look at the heart with a war fan attached to it.

     "Greetings peasant." Eliza looks down at me and lends me a hand, pulling me up on my feet. "Dear, you are very cocky for a runekeeper!" she turns towards the defeated golem, "But I admit, that was pretty impressive of what you did there."

     "Thanks I guess..." I look down at myself checking for wounds. "I almost had it dead you know."

     "Yeah but I needed some action, too bad it was a golem like this." she looks at the group of mercenaries, "You're welcome you rotten commoners."

     The men looked at Eliza and one of them recognized her, "It's Elizabeth!" they all gasp and get down on their knees and bow to Eliza.

     Eliza smiles and looks at me, "Haven't had this feeling in forever... I love it..."

     I laugh, "Well, looks like you're still famous."

     Eliza's smile softens a bit, "Yeah... but not like old times..." she turns around and walks back to Victoria and Ash "Hurry up Vic!"

     We make it back to Victoria and Ash, Victoria comforting Ash as she sleeps.

     Victoria hops on onto her feet "So, did you two have fun?"

     Eliza grabs her bag and continues to follow the green trail, "It was acceptable..."

     I pick up Ash and put her on my back "It was kind of fun, different than what I normally do."

     Victoria smiles, "Good that you saved them. I knew you would."

     We follow the trail behind Eliza and make our way to wherever Victoria leads us.

 

* * *

 

     It is almost night and we have been walking for hours with little stops to rest.

     Eliza stops and crouches down, "Hush... There is a camp in front of us"

     Victoria and I look at the camp, it had a banner with a weird sigil, and had several cabins, along with big fire out front with a rack attached for grilling meat.

     Victoria walks into the open and knock on one of the cabins, the door opens and a large shadow figure looks down at Victoria. Picking her up and pulling her into the cabin closing the door behind it.

     Eliza whispers "Well... We lost a member... The contract giver too!"

     The door opens again and a large man steps out looking around probably searching for us. He walks in our direction almost as if he knew where we were. Eliza climbs a tree away from his sight as I hide in a bush with Ash. He directly in the bush and sees Ash, reaching his arm out grabbing her as he carries her back into the cabin.

     Eliza looks at me "Great job." 

     I look at the cabin door and as soon as it closes I come out of hiding, quietly making my way to the door with my sword drawn. When I reach the door I kick it open ready to swing my blade at the man only to see Ash tucked in a bed and Victoria enjoying a cup of tea with the man. I sheathe my sword and look at Victoria.

     Victoria got up and pulled me towards a chair at the big table. "Don't worry, he is the friend I was talking about earlier."

     The man gets up and reaches out his hand, "I am Brute."

     I shake his hand, "You can call me Vic."

     Brute smiles, "No worry, I am good guy" he points to Ash in bed, "I put little girl in bed."

     I look at Ash, safe in bed and covered in blankets, "Thank you." I sit down in a chair at the big table as Brute pours me a cup of tea. I take a sip and Brute looks happy.

     "Where is Eliza?" Victoria asked "I thought she would be with you."

     The door bursts opens with Eliza already with her war fans in hand. “Take this you beast!" She throws the war fans at Brute

     Brute catches both of the fans in his hand. "Pretty lady not be mad, I nice guy."

     Eliza notices me and Victoria sitting at a table behind him and pulls back her fans. "Hah, 'Pretty' is a term used for commoners."

     Victoria looks at Eliza. "Eliza don't be too rough with him, he may be nice and calm but when he is mad he is a living war machine." she brushes her tail "Come on in and relax."

     Eliza gives Brute a dirty look and lays down on a bed. "You wouldn't like it if I were mad as well!"

     Brute sits down beside Victoria, "I am good guy I promise!" he pets Victoria as she is grooming her tail.

     "I should probably tell you the story how I met Brute." Victoria sips her tea again and undresses into her sleep attire. "Well one day, I was roaming the forest befriending some squirrels. I came across a destroyed part of the forest that looked like something pushed all the trees down with pure might alone. I decided to follow the the path of the fallen trees and when I got to the end I saw Brute sitting on a stone beside a lake."

     Brute looks at me and says, "I was sad because masters made me destroy village because they said village was bad." he looks down at his feet in shame "I not know village was good and now people look at me like I bad guy."

     Victoria rubs his back to comfort him. "I went and talked to him on what happened, and just be friendly like I usually am."

     Brute smiles. "Now we are friend."

     I look at the two and smile. "Well that is interesting I guess."

     Brute looks out the window. "It looks like it is sleep time!" he lays down on the biggest bed and tucks himself in.

     Victoria lays down on a leaf bed almost like her flower pod in her sanctuary. "You should sleep too Vic. Especially after that golem fight of yours."

     I take off my armour and lay beside Ash, "I will, don't worry" I stare up into the ceiling of the cabin and close my eyes, listening to the snoozes of everyone soon falling asleep with all of them... excluding Eliza... she is having time to herself in bed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think that Vic looking at Victoria in perverted ways is gross since they are father and daughter, please remember that Vic doesn't know that, and Victoria has her own reasons to why she doesn't tell him.


	4. Little Starlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventures make their way to the ruins only to come across a small village of people they have not seen before...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am unsure if this one needs touching on, please leave a comment if you think that this needs to be reworked.

     I hear a voice in the distance “Hello Vic welcome back.”

     I open my eyes to see myself back in Victoria’s Sanctuary. “Hello there Victoria why are we here again?”

     She playfully rolled her eyes and smiled “So we can spend time with each other alone of course dummy!”

     She grabs my hand and leads me to a new section of the sanctuary I haven’t seen before. It was a beach filled with amazing glowing underwater plants with the water shining from a blue moonglow. 

     “Do you like it?” she asks, curiously tilting her head waiting for my answer.

     “It’s beautiful... how did you get this addition?” I ask.

     “Well I can make any islands any time... I just take a while because I try to make things that you would like...” she nervously giggles before moving closer to the water.

     I move next to her and sit down. “Isn’t this your sanctuary? It should be what you like and not me.”

     She blushes, “Yeah but I usually like what you do... like look a thing the other two islands you saw...”

     I look at her noticing that she is fidgeting with her fingers and looking down as if she wanted to tell me something. “Hey Victoria.”

     “Yes Vic?” she looks up at me looking concerned of what I was about to say.

     “Is something wrong? It looks like you want to tell me something.”

     Her eyes widen for a moment before she looks down, “There is nothing wrong at all! Just enjoy your time here...” she gives a weak smile and sits down beside me.

     “Ok I am just making sure Victoria.”

     We sit in silence for a while watching the waves of water gently close in on the shore.

     Victoria leans on me, “I wish we can just stay here and forget everything else...”

     “Same but I would love to have Ash with us too.”

     “It’s too bad it can only be us two that comes here...” Victoria rubs her fluffy tail against me “I’ll make it worth your while too...”

     I comprehend what she just said trying to figure out what she meant.

     “You know exactly what I mean~” Victoria giggles, as she climbs into my lap facing me.

     I sit still shocked of what she just said hoping that she is joking.

     “Vic we both know you look at me and think those dirty thoughts of yours... and we know what I am saying is true.” Victoria giggles.

     “It doesn’t mean that I really want to!”

     “Oh hush darling you need to stop lying to yourself.” Victoria starts to undress only to stop before she can fully take anything off. “Well never mind... it seems everyone is up now...”

     “Ok... I’ll meet you there Victoria.”

     “Wait Vic...” she grabs me by the hand and pulls on me to get closer to the ground. “I love you.” She kisses my cheek only to look away. “Give me a moment... I’ll be right there...” 

     “Take your time Victoria.”

     I step towards the edge and jump off...

 

 

> * * *
> 
>  

      I wake up and see everyone up around the cabin getting their gear ready for our next adventure. 

     Ash turns and notices I was awake, "Well well it seems like someone finally woke up from their dirty dreams."

     "Oh hush, you know I don't dream such things."

     Ash gives me a dirty look, "That's not what Victoria told me."

     Victoria giggles with a smug look as she sips her tea.

     I get up from bed and walk over to the center table to check on my gear, "Anyways, we should probably go soon. It will take us a while to get to the ruins." I start to put on my armour and notice that we are missing someone. "Where is Eliza?"

     Brute puts down his battleaxe and points to the cabin door. "Pretty lady went to go take bath at the springs."

     Ash sits down beside me "Should someone go get her?"

     Victoria puts down her tea and points towards me, "Vic go get her, you are the fastest among the four of us."

     I get up to grab a towel and head towards the door, "Which way is the springs?"

     Brute points east of the cabin.

     I close the door and jog east from the cabin. The trees of the forest were gradually getting more green the closer I get to the springs and more flowers seemed to be growing along the way. If the outside wasn't so dangerous, I would probably live out here instead of the city. I come across an area with a thin fog which meant I was close by. through the fog I could see Eliza naked in the water bathing. She has her hair up and her eyes closed, she looked very different than usual. More elegant and looks like she is anything but a mercenary.

     She opens her eyes and looks behind her. "Whoever is peeping on my beauty better step forward before I change my mind on sparing you."

     Well shit. I step closer to her revealing myself from the fog which seemed to be more thin than I thought, or perhaps it thinned out as I was busy staring.

     Eliza's eyes widen seeing me of all people and quickly covers herself. "And here I was going to let you see something nice before you die. Why are you here and why were you watching me?"

     "I came here to call you back to the cabin. We're leaving as soon as you're back and ready." I hold out the towel I brought for her.

     She emerges from the water and grabs the towel drying herself off taking her time. "It's fine if you look by the way, I understand that a body of a goddess is something you can't take your eyes off." She laughs at her dirty humor and wraps her body with the towel. "Ok let's go."

     I lead her back towards the cabin still admiring the the scenery along the trail.

     Eliza nudges my arm with her elbow. "So Vic I have many questions for you... How did you and Ash meet? What about Victoria? and finally, where did you learn to use a blade like yours?"

     I look at Eliza, her curious eyes were staring up at mine. "Well I can explain Ash and my swordsmanship... Victoria's meeting would seem a bit fake to many-"

     Eliza cuts me off. "Well does it seem like I am stupid like those common peasants? We live in a world of technology, magic, and higher beings than us, it would be quite impossible to find something that is impossible. Now tell me those stories before we get back." she stops and sits down on a rock waiting for me to speak.

     Well it looks like I am not getting out of this. "Well let's start with my swordsmanship since that would make my meeting with Ash make more sense." I sit down on a log across from Eliza. "One random day I saw a paper for competitors in some sort of dueling competition. At the time I needed more money to finish my rune project that disrupts other runes, the same project that allowed me to exit the city with you and the others. So I signed up for competing in it and well apparently I needed a partner to participate."

     Eliza holds in a giggle, "So I am guessing you asked Ash to be your partner in battle? My, that is quite a lovely first date." she bursts out laughing.

     "Well actually she asked me to be her partner."

     Eliza disappointingly turns her body to the side from me. "And here I thought I was speaking to a man... I'm joking, continue."

     "Well I agreed that we split the prize 50/50 but she insisted that I get 40%, which I thought was fair considering that between her and I, she was the one more experienced with fighting. So since she was the leading us on this competition I asked her the rules... I really wish that I knew before signing up otherwise I wouldn't have joined."

     Eliza asks "What were the rules?"

     "I was getting to that. The rules were simple; No damaging the audience, eliminate your opponents... by killing both of them..."

     Eliza slightly recoils in shock. "This is legal in the city?"

     "I wish it wasn't, but I had to go through with what I signed up for."

     Eliza realizes we had to go. "Ok skip the rules and go straight to the why you two are together and tell me your story about Victoria when we get back to the cabin. We are running out of time."

     "Alright, so it was me and Ash versus several pairs of fighters. We pretty much annihilated the competition with ease until the last round. It was some magic users like Ash but much more skilled. We fought them but it was long, it seemed to me that determination and endurance were the key factors in fighting to win that one. Unfortunately Ash lacked the endurance compared to our opponents."

     Eliza covers her mouth. "The little girl didn't almost die did she? That soul seems too sweet to be put in danger. Would make an excellent princess or my personal maid."

     I sigh and look down at my feet. "She did almost die... I saved her from one of the fighter's execution move..."

     Eliza comes and sits beside me on the log in an attempt to comfort me. "You don't have to explain anymore if you don't want to. I understand what it's like almost losing someone important."

     I look up at her comforting face. "I'll tell you how it ended. Since there is no point having a cliffhanger." I pull out my sword and stand up to demonstrate. "Well the man had her neck in his hands most likely choking her, before she could've fainted he threw her on the ground and backed up to prepare his jump onto her. I saw his plan and intervened to try saving her life." I pull out my scepter and prepare a spell. "So he jumped high in the air using his enchanted boots and had his hammer pointed down as he was falling. I set my sword on fire and used my scepter to cast a pull spell on the man. He fell off course next to me, weak from impact leaving Ash safe. After he landed I stuck my sword into the ground to harness the power of the core of Kryptor to enhance a spell that could have enough energy to destroy an entire province. Of course I knew how to use the ability so instead I redirected all of the energy into his body making him explode with fire and light." I shoved my sword into the ground and lifted my scepter to cast the same spell.

     Eliza jumped behind the log in fear. "You don't have to use the spell here of all places! You'll kill everything here! Including me!"

     I smirk and switch the spell to summon a rose in my hand before laughing. "Got you." I hand over the rose to Eliza.

     Eliza get up from behind the log and snatches the rose. "Great, now I have to bathe aga- wait why is there no dirt on me?"

     "I put a barrier spell on that towel to protect you in cases like this."

      Eliza taps her foot impatiently. "Finish the story already."

     "Well after the guy was disintegrated the other opponent backed away in fear. But of course the only way to win was to kill him I used my magic to lift him up and crushed him with his partner's hammer." I pull my sword out of the ground and sheathe it."Ok that's it, shall we go?"

     Eliza walks ahead of me. "Let's get back to the others, they are waiting for their queen and her slave! Actually, I should call you a knight now, so you don't attempt to kill me in a later date."

     I smiled. "Don't worry I'll try not to think about that!" Of course I wouldn't, Eliza seemed too important to me for some reason. Perhaps it's from me seeing her naked, or just her being herself. But it seems like we will get along very well in the future.

     I teleport ahead of her. "You up for a race?"

     She pulls out her war fans and zooms past me with quick flaps and swipes. "I don't think you want to darling, I am obviously superior to you." She turns around and zooms further down the trail probably already at the cabin.

     I teleport further down the trail ending at the cabin only to see Eliza on the roof with her legs hanging off waiting for me.

     Eliza waves with her war fans. "Did you miss your queen?"

     I smirk, "I can see under your towel from this angle hun!"

     Eliza's face turns a bright red and she jumps down, her war fan against my neck. "Such a beast you know?"

     I laugh and teleport behind her and enter the cabin.

 

     Victoria is the first one to greet me. "Well did you two have fun? It took ya quite a while."

     Eliza speaks before I could say anything. "He told me the story of how he met Ash!"

     Ash hears her name from the other side of the room and perks her head up only to see me at the door. "What the fuck did you say about me?"

     Eliza runs over to Ash and pinches her cheeks "He said that your precious soul was saved by Vic from a hammer rat!"

     Ash looks past Eliza and stares at me, she turns back to Eliza. "Well that is true... But I can assure tell you that I'm not fucking weak."

     Eliza hugs Ash rubbing her breasts against Ash's face unintentionally. "Aww, you are such the cutest thing I have ever came across!"

     Ash lightly blushes and gently pushes against Eliza. "Please get your tits out of my personal space... and get dressed too..."

     Eliza lets go of Ash and goes to her bag to put her underwear on only to find no panties or bra inside. "Vic I swear to Aetsen I will chop off both of your heads if I find them in your bag."

     Ash throws Eliza her clothes. "There, ya happy now? Don't fucking touch my man."

     Eliza winks at Ash. "Aww thank you sweetie, I knew you had them anyways." She quickly puts them on and gets her armour ready.

     Brute calls me over. "Vic come here I need help."

     I walk over where Brute was sitting polishing his axe and shield.

     Brute shows me runes carved into the head of his axe almost making the blade hit me. "What does weird lines mean?

     I hold the axe in my hand, actually with two hands, it was so heavy that a normal person would need to hold this with two hands. I look at the runes engraved on the side of the axe head. There were two that I knew of, the last one was odd and must've been custom. "These are two elemental runes, from the looks of it you have a dark and ice elemental combo. The last one I don't know, it looks fake or it's a custom effect."

     Brute picks up his weapon with ease and puts it across the room. "Maybe it this?" he opens his hand towards the axe and it flies into his hand almost cutting Victoria and her tea in the way. "Sorry little squirrel."

     Victoria checks her tail to see if anything got cut but finds it fine. "It's ok Brute, just be careful next time!"

     I look at the rune again and walk over to Eliza and grab one of her war fans from her back and look to see if there are any runes on them. It did, it is the same rune as the unknown one. Must allow call backs from their owners...

     Eliza notices I have one of her fans and she snatches it out of my hands. "Don't you dare put your dirty hands on my beloved Ace."

     "You name your weapons?" I hold back from laughing.

     Eliza laughs. "I can't name a person who doesn't!" she points to  Brute and Victoria. "What did you name your weapons?"

     Brute smiles and holds his axe high in the air. "Sasha!" he then lifts his massive shield. "And Natascha."

     Victoria snaps her scepter into existence. "Arun."

     Ash hears our talk and summons her ribbon blade. "Red Ribbon."

     Eliza laughs even harder. "See Vic? You are the only one left out! I have Ace and Chance as my own."

     I look at my sword and scepter. "Perhaps these two need a name..." I think hard on what to call them. "Does Trinity and Division sound good?"

     Eliza puts away her fans. "Those names sound horrible. Of course to a mindless drone like you that sounds amazing but we all know none of you can reach my standards."

     I put back my weapons and help Ash finish packing. "You know, I feel like when this is over we will miss this adventure."

     Victoria and Ash nod their heads

     Eliza laughs in disagreement. "I will not remember this adventure, it will simply be another job I have done like the others."

     Victoria defends my thought. "You never know, Vic could be right. Maybe you'll make a great friend or get close with some or all of us."

     Eliza stares at Victoria. "Well, I do have many close friends, all that are willing to do anything for me!"

     Victoria giggles. "You mean the 300 horny guys just trying to get your affection?"

     Eliza's face turns a deep red "O-Of course not! Even I have standards and won't ever give a baboon like them any of my affection!" Eliza mutters something under her breath. " _Little bitch..._ "

 

* * *

 

     Everyone gets their things all packed up and we are out the door an hour after noon.

     Eliza leads the way down the trail at a fast pace. "We lost a lot of time, lets get there quickly!" Eliza starts sprinting down the trail using her war fans to boost her speed by a lot.

     Brute lifts up Ash and Victoria on his shoulders and he starts running after Eliza, and despite his size and weight, he is almost at the same speed as her.

     I keep taking my time walking for a little bit before I no longer see Eliza or Brute, which in that case I just teleport slightly behind them. I still look around the forest noticing how we are encountering more rivers and open areas that I haven't seen before.

     I notice Ash and Brute stopped up ahead so I run towards them curious of why.

     Eliza was looking at a map on the ground that she brought with her. "We have ran into a problem."

     "What's the issue?" I ask.

     Victoria looks at me and points towards the blue glow against the horizon in the direction of the ruins.

     Eliza looks up. "Up ahead there is a village right where the ruins are." she looks back at the paper. "There is no way this map is wrong, but there is no indication of a village in a blue forest here at all."

     I look ahead. She was right, the ruins was there. Everyone remembers the stone pillar next to the ruins that emits a white beam of light. The maps of Kryptor were always updated by magic to the nearest second too so that means there was something going on that is masked from magic maps.

     Eliza grabs my wrist. "Vic, I was close to the gates and I saw people patrolling the walls, they didn't look like any guild or faction we know of, but they seem friendly from the way they greeted me."

     I start walking towards the unknown village. "Then why not go and take a look around?"

     Eliza packs up her map and the rest of the group follow behind me.

     Victoria flutters her wings ahead of us, eager to see these new inhabitants of the ruins. "What if the people here are Elves?" She zones out and starts to drool only to snap back into reality when she almost trips over a root of a tree.

     Eliza perks her head up. "Elves? That would be the best thing ever! Sometimes I dream about a strong young cute Elven man carrying me in his arms..~"

     Ash crosses her arms. "I don't need any Elf man, I already have one that is better than anyone else!"

     Eliza and Victoria gives a dead stare to Ash. Eliza shows a smug expression, "Yes darling we get it, you suck and ride Vic's manhood every night even when he is sleeping. Just like in the cabin, you were so loud that all of us-"

     I speak up before a fight could happen. "Okay that's enough, we are about to enter an unmarked village so we need to keep our guard up." I see Ash and Eliza turn away from each other, Ash blushing deeply and Eliza looking more smug than those Sukirian cartoon girls. 

     We enter the gates of the village, the first sight we saw was an entire square full of people gathered around a pillar of what looks like a glowing stone shard. There was a girl standing on top of a rock beside the shard that seemed to peak Victoria's interest.

     Victoria looked at the girl and took a step back in discomfort. "Oh I know who these people are..." She flies towards the girl on the rock and gets her attention.

 

     Eliza nudges me with a confused look on her face. "So Vic, I just realized, you can teleport long distances right? Why did we walk here when you could've just teleport all of us here?"

     Ash giggles. "Because he can only do it with himself! You should have seen what happened when we tried doing it together!" 

     Eliza looks at me with even more confusion.

     "We apparently switched bodies when we tried it." I look slightly down embarrassed. "Ash didn't know how to teleport at all, so we were stuck like that for a while..."

     Eliza laughs. "Jeez, and here I thought you were big and powerful! But of course the most important question is; how was the sex during that?"

     I feel my face turn hot red but before I could speak, Ash explains. "Let's just say he's more of a fucking slut than me if he was a girl."

     Eliza laughs even harder almost losing balance. "Vic is the last person I expect to be like that! I knew I smelled a dirty boy when I was near him. "

     Brute tilts his head in confusion. "What is sex?"

     Everyone was quiet waiting for Victoria.

 

     Victoria comes back with the girl. "Everyone, this is Lilibet. The daughter of Elppans." 

     Lilibet bows in her dress. It almost looks like a wedding gown but it emits a gentle blue light. "Greetings."

     I study her entire body, she looked like a small Elf girl but the symbols on her dress didn't match any known Elven clans.

     "I would appreciate it if you didn't stare at me so much with your dirty eyes." Lilibet snapped.

     Victoria giggles and calms Lilibet down. "That is Vic, he is the one I chose to be my heir." She turns to me. "And no Vic, she is not an Elf."

     "Then what is she?" Ash asks, confused as much as everyone else.

     Lilibet gasps. "Come, follow me. Apparently you all don't know anything about the angelic powers." She grabs Victoria by the hand and leads us to a big stone arch engraved into a mountain.

     Eliza recognizes the arch. "Hey this is the ruins!"

     Lilibet turns. "To you, this may be ruins of nothing. To the angelic powers, it is one of the most important structures of our history. These places are channeled with the power of a god, most importantly, my father."

     Eliza's eyes light up in interest. "So your father is a god? Oh my you must be a powerful little girl."

     Lilibet smirks. "I turned 94 years of age just today."

     Eliza's jaw dropped in awe. "Just to think that I will eventually lose my young looks near the age of 40 makes me feel ugly compared to your youthful appearance." Eliza's eyes looked like they were about to cry.

     Brute pets Eliza. "Don't worry, I think you always pretty lady."

     Eliza takes his heavy hand off her head. "Why thanks big guy, but I know I will soon look like a wall rug."

     Brute smiles. "My name is Brute."

     Eliza scoffs. "Yes yes, I knew that."

     Lilibet stops in front of a magic barrier blocking the path. "Behind this barrier is all of our history, please don't touch anything that is not a book or map." She touches the barrier with the palm of her hand, dispelling it.

     We continue down the path leading into a giant library. The bookshelves were as tall as the massive chamber they were in, filled with glowing books that occasionally sorted themselves out.

     Lilibet welcomes us. "Welcome to the Endless Library." she runs over to a table and picks up book, handing it over to Eliza. "Feel free to take a look around, there is a lot of books here about almost all things in existence."

    I look at the book, it was a star map of all the planets and moons known to them. "A nice place you have here."

    Lilibet smiles at my complement. "Why thank you, this libra-"

    Her voice is cut off from a loud rumbling, strong enough to make the chamber shake. The pebbles on the ground were jumping, books were falling out of the bookshelves, only to be met with a crack in the ground.

    Lilibet gasps. "Oh no, they followed us!" she runs to a stone lever across the room and powers on a beacon.

    We all draw our weapons ready for action.

    "Who is they?" Ash asks, cautiously scanning the area.

    Lilibet pushes over a book shelf revealing a hole in the wall. "I have no time to explain, we must get to the core before they do!"


	5. Battle of the Core

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new arrivals flood into the ruins... Vic and his group are the only thing between it and the core.

Brute bashes his axe against his shield letting out a warcry that shook the library even more. "MUST PROTECT!" Brute rushes into the hole in the wall charging with his shield.

    Eliza runs in after Brute. "The big guy knows how to get things done!"

    The rest of us shrug and sprint after the two. I look behind us and see arms and humanoid figures bursting out of the walls. "What are those?"

    Lilibet casts a barrier behind us. "Those are the Dust Reapers... They transform my people into their dust sorcerers..." We need to hurry, those two are likely not strong enough to fight off even one of them...

    Victoria slows down to a walking pace. "Something tells me I should take my time."

    We hear Eliza let out a shriek at the end of the tunnel.

   Lilibet gasps. "That sounds like the wannabe queen!"

    All of us except Victoria hurry to the end of the tunnel into a massive room that housed a massive orb of electricity where Brute and Eliza were taking on groups of Dust Reapers on their own.

 

    Eliza slices through one of the Dust Reaper's arms with her war fans "Unhand me you dirty runt!" she proceeds to kick them away from her only to be grabbed again by her leg. "I haven't had to fight so many guys grabbing me since I was drunk at the tavern!"

    Brute slams the Dust Reaper grabbing Eliza with his shield. "Stay away from pretty lady... You okay lady?"

    Eliza wipes the dust off her legs. "Let's talk later, I doubt that these... things are going to let us- Watch out!" Eliza throws both of her fans slicing everything in a spiral around her and Brute.   

    Brute lets out another warcry and slams the ground with his axe, turning every Dust Reaper infront of him into fiery ashes, engulfing both his axe and the ground with flames. "I... AM... WAR!" He throws his axe at the biggest Dust Reaper disintegrating everything in it's path.

 

    Ash sits beside me, watching Brute and Eliza handling the situation on their own. "Can I blow up the place yet?"

    Lilibet backhands Ash. "Of course not, you will destroy everything of value with it!"

    Ash growls at Lilibet. "It was a joke."

    "Sorry to cut in your bonding but I think we should help them..." I say, trying to distract them from going at eachother's throats. 

    Ash laughs. "Nah, this is too entertaining."

    Lilibet runs towards them through the field of dust.

    Victoria finally arrives to our position and giggles. "Vic, I think you will be interested in my little stardust's performance. Just watch the three."

    I sit down between Ash and Victoria as they wrap their arms around mine. "You sure they will be okay?"

    Victoria leans her head on my shoulder. "I think so."

 

    Brute punches his way to his axe through the near endless crowd of Dust Reapers. "You can't kill me! I am invincible!" He grabs his axe and leaps into the air slamming into the ground with his axe, burning the field around him.

    Eliza flaps her fans creating powerful gusts of wind that pulled apart foes with sheer force. "It's cute how they keep on coming, trying to get some of my beauty." She notices Brute on his own cleaving through the army of Dust Reapers. "Oh no... It's ok big guy I'm coming!" Eliza flies into the air with a spin only to flap her fans together almost like wings, with it's force lifting the burning ashes and scorching the area around Brute.

    Brute notices that everything around him burns even brighter than before and looks up, only to see Eliza descending down like an angel. "My angel..."

    Eliza laughs, "I didn't know I could set fire to things with my fans!" She smiles at Brute, almost like she enjoyed fighting by his side.

    Lilibet arrives at the two out of breath. "There...  _inhales_ is still more..."

    Eliza cools off Lilibet with her fans. "Darling you didn't have to run down here, we had everything under control."

    Lilibet recovers from running through the ashes and fire. "No, I have to be down here to channel the core's power into me... Also I like to help too..."

    Eliza pets Lilibet. "Aww that's sweet of you but aren't you technically a goddess?"

    Lilibet looks down at her feet and frowns. "Doesn't mean I can't help..."

    Brute laughs. "What can little girl do that we can't?"

    Lilibet gives off a smirk and steps into the air, walking on little clouds of stardust. She looks around at the Dust Reapers surrounding the three of them and closes her eyes. "More than all of the mortals of this world combined." She opens her eyes, letting out a blinding flash of light.

    When the light fades we look back up at her...

    Victoria jumps up in excitement. "Oh! This is the best part!"

    Lilibet was no longer a little girl, but changed into the body of grown woman with wings of stardust. "You forget that having divine beings as parents makes me even stronger than them alone."

    Eliza and Ash's jaw drops in amazement over the true form of Lilibet. While Brute and I just stare almost like in a trance.

    Lilibet extends her hand towards a large group of Dust Reapers laying out a carpet of stardust on the ground, burning the Dust Reapers without fire and converting their ashes into stardust. "It's amazing how all of you underestimate each other, let alone everyone around you." She summons a bow and fires at the ground with a divine arrow, carpeting the entire room with a layer of stardust. "I am not detecting anymore Dust Reapers, meet me beside the core." Lilibet returns to her normal form and waits at the top of the stairs to the core.

    Everyone gathers together and go up the stairs to the core. We look back at the bottom of the stairs and everything around the core, the ground is just a field of stars glowing bright, changing the once eerie lit room into a shining chamber of lights.

    Lilibet stands beside the core. "I fear what would have happened if we didn't stop them." She grabs the core with her hand and starts channeling it's power into her.

    We all stand and watch her in silence until all of the power is absorbed.

    Lilibet sockets the drained core into it's pedestal. "Thank you everyone. Now I can return home with this power to heal my-" Her apology was cut off with the sound of a crystal breaking.

    Victoria stood behind Lilibet with the broken crystal in her hand held against Lilibet's back. "Ha, and here I thought I wouldn't get the chance to capture you."

    Lilibet drops to her knees. "V-Victoria... Why would y-you do this..?"

    I draw my scepter out. "Victoria what are you doing!?"

    Victoria giggles. "Simply following orders. I need the core's energy and she has it. So unfortunately we have to see our sweet, Goddess of the Stars drained from her power." She throws Eliza a bag filled with gold. "Here is your cut of the deal. Plus, you can say you captured a goddess to get your reputa-"

    I cut her off. "Will she die?"

    Victoria smirks. "Sadly yes, but it is a small price to pay to become a goddess myself."

    _I couldn't believe it. Victoria, a Guardian Angel, is going to kill a goddess for her selfish needs... Something needs to be done... Some part of me says I need to protect Lilibet... I need to stop Victoria..._

   Victoria stands still, still absorbing Lilibet's essence into the crystal.

  _I am sorry Victoria, but I have to do this. A goddess is too important to lose. For the people._

   I draw my sword and charge into Victoria, pushing her over disrupting the spell. "Victoria, there has to be a better way than this!"

   Victoria summons her scepter and puts away the crystal in her pouch. "I didn't want to fight you Vic... Back away." She channels her power into her scepter, creating a blade made with magic using her scepter as the hilt.

    _Why isn't she being reasonable? This is not the Victoria I met._

   I sigh and look to the others. "Guys, there is no need to fight along side me with this one. You all can go home."

   Victoria points her blade to me. "Watch, go home, but if you choose to fight me you will have to fight the wrath of an angel."

   Eliza turns around and walks down the stairs. "Ash I think we should leave them to their duel... I don't think you should get involved."

   Ash looks at me about to tear up. "I don't want to go..."

   I hug her tight and push her away to Eliza. "It's ok."

   Brute comes by and carries Ash down the stairs.

   Eliza turns to me one last time. "Don't worry Vic, I'll take care of Ash for you." Eliza sighs and follows Brute and Ash down the stairs.

   I sigh and focus my attention on my duel.

  _Here I am. About to fight an angel to protect a goddess. Who knew I would be doing this?_

   I set my sword ablaze and charge at Victoria.

   Victoria stands still and looks away, dodging all the swings of my sword. "You know Vic, I thought you would actually let me become a goddess." She shoves me with the back of her sword. "I thought you might've liked the idea of having a goddess crushing on you." She grabs my shirt and throws me into the air. "It seems like I was wrong... But that won't change my mind on being a goddess." She swings her sword just as I was in her reach.

    I teleport behind her, attempting to stab her from behind only to miss all my jabs. "I can not allow you to sacrifice a life of a goddess for your own gain!" I swing my blade multiple times with force, releasing flying discs of fire towards her.

    Our duel continued on, her swings of her sword were fast, making it hard for me to strike. I managed to scratch her cheek and arm but that's nothing compared to the successful slashes to my arms, legs and torso. Before I could even swing my sword to counter her attack she hit my sword out of my hand and away.

     Victoria kicked me down onto the ground and held her blade against my throat. "Aww, you look so cute when you are defenseless." She looks back at Lilibet unconscious on the floor behind her and back to me. "Now before I cut you open I can give you two options since I'm nice." She sheathes her sword and lends out a hand. "You can either allow me to do this and live happily me in my sanctuary... Or I can kill you right here without you regretting your decision."

    I laugh in pain. "Victoria, bring your hand closer."

    Victoria looks down at me and lends her hand closer. "Made your decision?"

    I lift my hand to touch hers and say the Kryptorian word; "Gachinisl."

    Victoria loses her footing and falls down to the ground into a deep sleep from the pacifist rune.

    I get up and use my scepter to heal. "Oh Victoria... Why did you have to do this?" I crouch down beside her and grab the crystal from her pouch. "A soulstealer crystal... An Angelic one... explains a lot." I go to Lilibet and place the crystal in her hand, watching the energy flow back into her.

    Lilibet awakens and gets up from the ground. "Vic..? How did you..?"

    I point to Victoria sleeping on the ground.

    Lilibet summons her stardust bow and fires an arrow at Victoria, turning her body into black shadowy smoke. "That was not Victoria..."

    I nod. "Yeah, I guess this was her true intention... I never thought she would-"

    Lilibet cuts me off. "No, that was a demon clone of her... It wasn't her at all..." 

    "A demon clone?" I ask.

    Lilibet sighs. "Our Victoria is missing! She was replaced by that clone."

    I pick up my sword and pull my scepter out. "Then I need to find her. I'll go get the others."

    Lilibet grabs my arm. "Thank you for saving me... I can help find her if you want, she is my best friend, caretaker, and guardian angel after all."

    "I mean, considering that you're a goddess you will probably unleash some sort of plague on me... Sure! It would be nice to get to know you better." I smile at Lilibet.

    She looks at me and smiles back. "Then let's teleport to your friends. I think they miss you."

    I stand there worried. "I'm sorry but I-"

    She cuts me off. "Just do it."

    I grab her arm and lift my scepter into the air hoping nothing goes wrong.

 

     With a swift teleport of me and Lilibet, we both emerge in front of Ash, Eliza and Brute.

     Eliza gasps and wakes up Ash from Brute's arms. "Hey Ash we have a surprise for you..."

     Ash wakes up and turns to Eliza, noticing me and Lilibet standing in front of them. "Oh... Oh my god..." She jumps out of Brutes arms and runs over to hug me.

     Ash completely ignored me and gave Lilibet a hug. I look down noticing that I was wearing Lilibet's clothes...

     Lilibet looks down at Ash confused, only to notice that her hands were human. "Oh my, what happened..?" Her face turned a deep red when she spoke in my voice knowing what happened.

     Eliza realizes what was going on and bursts into laughter. "Vic and Lilibet teleported here together! Their bodies switched!" She loses her balance from laughing and rolls on the ground. "So what you said was true Vic!"

     Lilibet looks over to me and sees me in her body as I look at her and see her in my body. "So this is what it feels like being mortal?" She takes a step back from Ash and studies her new body.

     I look down and try to summon her stardust bow only to fail. "Your chest seems a lot bigger from this angle..."

     Lilibet blushes and uses my scepter and teleports both of us a short distance, reversing the effects. "Ah, much better, despite the fact I can never forget that a man entered my body..."

     Ash ignores what happened and hugs the real me this time. "You idiot...."

     I return a hug to Ash, noticing she is on the verge of crying. "At least I'm still here."

     Lilibet breaks our little moment and announces what we originally came to tell them. "Now back to the actual topic, the Victoria we saw at the core is not actually Victoria. That being was a demon clone of her."

     I stand up and support what Lilibet was saying. "Yeah, the real Victoria is missing. I need to go find her." 

     Eliza rolls her eyes and walks past us with a smile. "I'm not coming with you two, I already did what I was paid to do."

     Brute grunts and grabs Eliza's arm and carries her back to us. "You come help us." 

     Eliza scoffs. "Give me one good reason why I should come."

     "If you have any want for anything in existence, I can get my father to repay you with it." Lilibet offered.

     Eliza turns around again to walk away but Brute blocks her path. "I'm sorry, but I doubt there is anything that I could provide for you guys."

     Lilibet gets irritated at Eliza's refusal of her offer but I step in. "But your knowledge of outside the city would help us a lot."

     Eliza stops trying to get past Brute and turns back to me with an indecisive face. "Hmm, I'll come with you if you give me three days per month where you have to do anything I say." She gives me a smug expression.

     "Deal." I accepted, knowing that having Eliza around would likely help us along the way.

     Eliza jumps in shock from hearing me accepting her request. "Looks like someone is desperate!" She giggles at me. "Also you guys didn't have to offer anything. Unlike the maggots in the city, you all are far more exciting! But I'll take those three dates with Vic anytime!"

     Ash growls at Eliza. "Better not do anything to him!"

     Eliza pets Ash on the head. "Don't worry sweetie, I'll take good care of him."

 

     Brute looks up at the sky and notices it's getting late. "It is almost dark, go back to cabin?"

     Eliza opens her war fans. "Race you there!" She flaps her fans towards the direction of the cabin, with Brute running after her with Ash on his shoulder.

     Lilibet looks at me confused. "What is a race?"

     I laugh and explain what a race was to Lilibet.

     Lilibet gasps and summons her wings of stardust. "I'll beat them there." She leaps into the air and dashes after them like a shooting star.

     I pull out my scepter. "Looks like they forgot about me." I raise it into the air, and wait for them at the Cabin

* * *

     Lilibet and Eliza were the first to arrive at the Cabin. "That was a lot of fun!" cheered Lilibet.

     Eliza looks out the door for Brute and Ash. "It seems like we ended up second."

     Lilibet wanders around the cabin looking at everything inside. "This seems like a comfortable place."

     Eliza takes off her shoes and lays on her bed. "Yeah, we normally sleep and eat here."

     Ash and Brute enter the Cabin last, exhausted. "Looks like we lost little girl."

     Ash walks over to her bed and immediately falls asleep.

 

     "Looks like someone is sleepy again. She's kinda cute like that." Eliza took off her armour and wrapped herself in blankets. "So what are we doing tomorrow?"

     Lilibet and Brute both go to their beds and lay down waiting for me to plan.

     I sit down and face all of them. "Well, we have to figure out where Victoria is before we can adventure out again."

     Lilibet yawns. "You are the one person that would know, Vic. All of the heirs can sense where their angel is unless their angel is dead or in a different realm."

     I look down at my feet. "I hope she isn't dead."

     "My messengers haven't told me anything about a death of an angel yet, so I doubt that she is." Lilibet rubs her eyes and slowly falls asleep.

     I stand up from the bed. "Then tomorrow I'll find a path to her. I will make sure we find her." I look around only to notice everyone has fallen asleep. I sit back down on my bed with Ash and lay down beside her. _I promise I will find you Victoria._ I close my eyes and fall into a deep sleep.


	6. [NSFW] Looking for an Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vic wakes up with Victoria in her sanctuary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you don't want to see this NSFW stuff I will put all the info you need to know from this chapter into the summary of the next. So don't worry about not knowing why she was gone!

     I wake up in Victoria's sanctuary laying down on the clean grass.

     "Victoria?" I ask, slowly waking up.

     Victoria lays beside me holding my arm and puts her finger on my lips. "Hush Vic, I'm right here and I'm perfectly fine."

     "Victoria where are you in the real world?"

     "I don't know Vic, I was transported somewhere else after you all went ahead of me on the stairs of the core..." She hugs my arm tighter. "But it's okay, at least I am here with you now..."

     "Victoria, we are looking for you tomorrow when we wake up, I just need you to tell me where you-"

     Victoria gets up and faces me with her arms crossed. "I said I don't know Vic, all I know is that now I am in some sort of cage being transported into a void portal by some men." She starts to tear up. "Somehow I can't use my magic when I'm near them so I'm defenseless..."

      I get up and give Victoria a warm hug. "We will find you Victoria. Don't worry."

      She wraps her arms around me. "Vic you really are so sweet..."

      "It's the least I could do for you." I look back down at her, the tears on her cheeks were gone and she was blushing.

      "Let me show you a new addition of my sanctuary..." She grabs my hand and leads me to a building. The building looks like a miniature castle, with only one room inside with a bed.

      I look around the room. "Let me guess, this is your bedroom?" 

      She blushes and pulls me to lay on the bed with her. "Yeah... You like it?"

      I lay in bed with her rubbing her back. "Yes, it suits you."

      We laid there in silence comforting each other before she got up and undressed.

      "Uh, Victoria?" I cover my eyes trying to not see her naked.

      "Vic it's ok." she gets back in bed with me, wearing nothing. "I don't mind if you look..."

      I uncover my eyes and try to look away. "Yeah but-"

      Victoria gets on top of me and pins me down against the bed. "Jeez you are bad at taking hints..."

      I look up at her questioning what she is thinking.

      She smiles at me. "Vic... I love you so much you know?"

      I try to study what was happening. I can feel her warm squishy thighs squeezing my hips and see her cute little nipples on her small breasts.

      "Vic, I know you are staring at me..." She bends down and whispers into my ear. "You have my permission you know~?"

      Just from her saying such things with her naked body on top of me I could already feel myself getting erect from the warmth of her pussy through my pants.

     "I can feel you down there Vic... Let me help you..." She crawls down to my crotch and pulls down my pants and boxers, revealing my already hard cock. "Oh my, I should've expected something this big coming from someone like you..." She pokes the head of my cock with her finger, making me twitch. "You really wan't this, don't you?"

     "Victoria... I do but..."

     Victoria ignores what I was about to say and licks the tip of my member, already leaking with precum. "You taste really nice Vic..." She proceeds to lick from the base of my cock to the top, giving little kisses along the way.

     "Your lips feel so good Victoria..."

      "Just sit back and enjoy Vic, this is for everything you have done for me in previous lifetimes." She takes the full length of my cock into her mouth holding me in for a few seconds before needing to take a breather. "Your cock is so big... How will this fit in me..?" She licks the tip again and takes my manhood into her mouth again, wrapping her tongue around it while sucking slightly.

      I felt myself throbbing in her little mouth, already wanting to explode with her technique. I couldn't resist moving my hips up and down thrusting my cock further down her throat.

      She pulls herself away from my dick, stroking it while she takes a breath. "You can let it all out anytime you want Vic..." She massages my balls while stroking my cock, filling my mind with massive amounts of pleasure.

      "Victoria I think I'm about to..." I feel my cock at it's limit already.

      Victoria takes my manhood into her tiny mouth again and sucks hard, making me release my large load into her small throat. She takes my cock out of her mouth and swallows my cum. "Mmmm... You taste sweet..." She gets on top of me and aligns her soaking wet pussy with my still erect member. "Ready for round two?"

     I place my hands on her thighs, ready to enter her sacred place.

      She lowers herself onto my cock, struggling to get it in. "It's... too big..." After a few attempts I hold her by the hips and thrust myself inside her. "Ahh Vic~!" She bends down and kisses me on the lips while she grinds her hips against me as I'm inside.

      I could feel the warmth and wetness of her pussy squeezing tightly around my cock. She was as tight as Ash, making her small movements feel so strong.

     She pulls away from the kiss and focuses on lifting herself up and down my cock, leaning back to gain her balance from the pleasure. "I didn't think you would fit!" She picks up speed, moving faster and faster on my dick.

     I thrust my cock up into her every now and then, each time pleasuring both of us with a hint of shock.

     Victoria gropes her small breasts as she rides me, pinching her little nipples giving them a light twist, tugging at them slightly each time I thrust into her. "Vic... I already want to cum..."

     I sit up and have her wrap her arms around my neck. "Me too..." I place my hands on her tight butt and give it a squeeze, fucking her tight pussy harder and harder.

     She moans loudly, hugging me tight. "I can't hold out any longer..." She holds my head and brings me into a deep kiss.

     I slide my tongue in her mouth, thrusting deep into her pussy as she cums over my cock while I release my seed into her.

     We sit there together to savor this moment.

     Victoria slides herself off me and lays on the bed with my cum dripping out of her small pussy. "I never felt that good since..." She closes her eyes and trails off into sleep.

     I lay down beside her covering the both of us with blankets. "I love you too Victoria." wrap my arm around her, before falling asleep.


	7. Falsehood of an Angel's Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you didn't read chapter 6 (Bless your soul), in Victoria's sanctuary, Victoria told Vic that she was captured by a group of people right before she followed the others upstairs to the core. Her magic doesn't work against the captors, making her defenseless. As she spoke to Vic she was in a cage being carried into a void portal. Now Vic must inform the others on where to go next.

     I wake up in a cold sweat early in the morning.  Everyone except Lilibet and Eliza were still asleep.

     Lilibet notices I am awake and strafes to the side of my bed. "Good morning Vic. Do you know where Victoria is now?"

     I shook my head. "She said she was captured, taken by a group of people and heading towards a void portal..?"

     Eliza yawns while stretching her body. "Void portal? Why would they be going into the void? There is nothing of value inside."

     Lilibet closes her eyes, focusing on something. "Void portal nine... She's near void portal nine."

     Eliza's eyes widen. "Void portal nine? That is the most unstable one in the entire continent! If she enters the portal through there, she might end up at a different void entrance..."

     "What is a void portal and what is the void behind it?" I ask, still unsure what is so bad about the void.

     Lilibet stands and walks away to the table. "I can not tell you that. It is a secret among the angelic powers."

     Eliza stands up to explain. "The void is said to be a place where the gods tried making alternate realities of our own world, but failed and moved them all into the void."

     Lilibet lets out a small laugh. "I'll just say your beliefs are close but far from what they actually are."

     I take a minute to think about what they said. _Victoria always said something about me and her in a previous lives... Does that mean that the void is just pieces of many different timelines? I should ask Lilibet._

     I call to Lilibet. "Lilibet."

     She glances back to me as she sips the tea she made. "Yes?"

     "Is the void just different timelines of the world we are in now?" I ask.

     After I asked the question everything around me turned dark. Everyone around me was gone, all except Lilibet.

     Lilibet turns to face me in her adult form. "So Victoria told you about the timelines?"

     My face turns pale from fear. " _Did I say something wrong?"_ I thought to myself "Yes she did." I reply.

     Lilibet descends to me, making the air warmer as she came closer. "No mortal is supposed to know about the timelines. She has broken one of the greatest rules of her order."

     I sweat worryingly, hoping that my knowledge wouldn't bring any harm to me or Victoria. "Why am I not supposed to know?"

     Lilibet halts her descent. "Because with that knowledge, the mortals will try to find a way to stop the gods from making a new one." she summons her bow and points it directly at me. "So I must protect this world by getting rid of you." 

     I try to back away, but no matter how fast I try to go, I am always in the same place.

     "Goodbye, Vic." Lilibet lets go of the golden string of her bow firing a bright star-filled arrow towards me.

     I close my eyes... Take a deep breath... And accept my fate...

     A familiar voice called out from nearby. "I will not let you hurt him!"

     I open my eyes and look for the the voice. And there she was standing in front of me catching the arrow. Victoria.

     Lilibet unsummons her bow. "Victoria? How did you enter my sanctuary?"

     Victoria drops the arrow from her hand. "I am a guardian angel. I exist in all sanctuaries that my heir enters." 

     Lilibet summons her bow again and aims at both of us. "You are a fool for telling a mortal about the past timelines. Don't you realize what you have done?"

     Victoria summons her scepter and creates a forcefield. "I don't think you realize who this mortal is. Has your father not told you about the mortal who saved him from death in the previous world? Not to mention that this mortal saved you in the process?"

     Lilibet draws her bow. "Those stories are lies, they never happened..." Lilibet fires a barrage of arrows at Victoria, all impacting the shield at once and making Victoria lose balance.

     Victoria casts a spectral blade on her scepter making a sword, and swiftly charges Lilibet ready to slash. "You don't want to believe it, that's why!" She disarms Lilibet with the swing of the sword, breaking the bow into a cloud of stardust. "Every elder angel and your father knows that this mortal did so much for the angelic powers, but you destroyed all the books and records to make it look like that the angelic powers were independent and strong."

     Lilibet summons a golden spear and shield. "I did no such thing..."  She bashes Victoria's head with the shield, making Victoria fall to the ground. "You forget that you're below me Victoria."

     Victoria wipes the blood from her cheek and picks up her sword. "No, I know my place. You forget your own as the next elder goddess to the throne. You are supposed to support and protect the mortals. Not treat them as if they were nothing." She stands up strong gripping her sword. "My place is to make sure that the angelic powers are safe. With you being the next heir to the throne, we as a people are not." Victoria raises her arm, empowering the sword with all of her might.

     Lilibet laughs. "I always thought you knew better than me. But it seems like the novice has become the ruler." Lilibet empowers her wings and spear and dives down toward us with the intention to obliterate.

     The world I see begins to slow. Lilibet is ready to crash into us with the power of all the stars. Victoria is just standing there with her spectral sword glowing bright. 

     Victoria just stands still, her sword ready to release it's power, but she keeps waiting. Lilibet comes diving down on us closer and closer. I feel myself wanting to shake in fear but Victoria just smiles at me, calming me down as if everything will be alright. 

     Victoria turns and faces Lilibet, releasing the pure angelic energy from her sword and swings at Lilibet. "Maybe this will make you accept our true history." The empowered sword slices cleanly through Lilibet's shield, shattering into millions of pieces and causing a wave of physical light burst around us. Victoria stands in front of me, protecting me from the blast.

     The light fades and past the stardust we see Lilibet laying on the ground in her normal form. Smoke rising from her body as if she was burnt.

     Victoria smiles. "You forget that being blind makes you weak." Victoria approaches Lilibet and stops in front of her with her sword drawn. "Your father would banish you into the void for what you did." Victoria reaches into her pouch and pulls out a crystal. "You're lucky that I changed his mind."

     Lilibet opens her eyes and sees the crystal in Victoria's hands. "N-No... Please don't kill me..." Lilibet starts to tear up and cry.

     Victoria closes her hand, breaking the crystal. "Hush now, it will all be okay."

     I watch a stream of magic from the crystal path it's way into Lilibet's eyes. "Victoria no... don't kill her!" I try to stand up, but I couldn't from the weakening magic Lilibet used on me.

     Victoria looks back at me and laughs. "What do you mean? This is a memory crystal!"

     We both wait for the crystal to stop.

     The crystal stops humming, making the room silent. Lilibet slowly gets up off the ground. "I can't... I can't believe it..." Lilibet gently floats towards me and gives me a hug. "I know you do not remember what you did for us... But thank you..."

     Victoria puts the broken crystal pieces into her pouch. "Now I expect an apology. I can't believe that you two think I would kill someone I want to take care of." She shakes her head. "And here I thought you two knew me better."

     Lilibet lets go of me, and glides over to Victoria. The two just stand still looking at each other. "Victoria I'm sorry for everything I've done..." Lilibet starts to tear up again. "I think you should take my place as a goddess... You know much more than me..."

     Victoria's eyes widen at what Lilibet offered. "Sure." She paused. "But I will have to decline since you need to learn too... And if I was so important I wouldn't be able to see Vic ever again!" Victoria wraps her arms around Lilibet. "You forget that I am here to take care of you too."

     Lilibet hugs Victoria back while crying even more. "I think we should go now..."

     Victoria laughs. "Yeah, I'm waiting for you all to come save me!" She turns away and shivers. "I can not sleep or else they will open the cage and do nasty things to me..."

     Lilibet looks at me. "Let's go." She snaps her fingers and we are transported back into the cabin. 

* * *

 

     Eliza jumps at our arrival. "Where did you two go for ten seconds?"

     Lilibet smirks. "I had some business to do with him."

     Eliza looks at Lillibet and back to me. "Oh I see Vic is making himself a little harem now?" Eliza giggles and her voice turns seductive. "I wonder when it is my turn."

     Lilibet blushes a bright red and summons her bow.

     Eliza jumps behind me. "You wouldn't shoot the man who you love so much."

     Lilibet puts down her bow and unsummons. "I don't love him..."

     I pull out a runecard and place it on the table revealing an entire map of all the void portals in the continent. "Ladies, we have work to do."

     Eliza points to one spot on the map that is glowing. "That is void portal nine. It is active right now."

     I pick up the runecard and place it back in my deck. "Then we have to go now." I look at Ash and Brute sleeping. "After they wake up..."


	8. Dreams of the Blood Servant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ash has been sleeping a lot ever since the beginning of the adventure... I wonder what she is dreaming about...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is in Ash's POV, this is one of few chapters that the POV changes so think of this as a special addition :D

     I wake up in the middle of the forest alone. The others were gone and the golem that Vic was fighting is also gone...

      _Did they leave me behind..?_

     "Good morning little one."

     I summon my ribbon blade and scan my surroundings. "Who's there..?"

     The voice spoke again. "Oh don't worry little one, I am only just a future friend of yours."

     I feel my body shaking. "Show yourself!" I keep looking for the source of the voice.

     "Ash, I mean no harm."

     I put my blade away and check my pockets. "Why are you talking to me?"

     "Because I am going to be one of your best friends dear."

     I scoff. "I don't need any friends."

     "Foolish girl, you are only making yourself weaker without me."

     "No I'm not, I am powerful like Vic and the others..."

     "No, you were strong and powerful. With him now in your life; you rely on others too much."

     I roll my eyes. "Yeah yeah, whatever. Say what you want but you are not changing my mind."

     "Listen girl... Never mind, I will show you."

     A portal opens in front of me, glowing with a hellish red.

     I jump back with my ribbon blade ready to fight whatever comes out.

     An arm grabs my leg and drags me into the portal.

 

     I open my eyes and see Vic and Eliza... Eliza with only a towel on and Vic sitting on a stump talking with her...

     My heart shakes. "What is happening..?"

     "Listen to what they are talking about."

 

     Vic looked up at Eliza. "Alright, so it was me and Ash versus several pairs of fighters. We pretty much annihilated the competition with ease until the last round. It was some magic users like Ash but much more skilled. We fought them but it was long, it seemed to me that determination and endurance were the key factors in fighting to win that one. Unfortunately Ash lacked the endurance compared to our opponents."

     Eliza covers her mouth. "The little girl didn't almost die did she? That soul seems too sweet to be put in danger. Would make an excellent princess or my personal maid."

 

     I sit down and continue listening to their conversation. _What do you mean I am too sweet..? I'm not that much of a little girl..._

The voice speaks again. "Hear that Ash? They see you as weak and incapable of fighting."

     I turn to face the voice but realize that it's in my head. "Shut up."

 

     Vic sighs and looks down at his feet. "She did almost die... I saved her from one of the fighter's execution move..."

     Eliza gets up and sits beside Vic on the log to comfort him forgetting she was basically naked. "You don't have to explain anymore if you don't want to. I understand what it's like almost losing someone important."

 

     I feel my hand clench into a fist.  _Get away from my man..._

 

     Vic looks at Eliza's comforting face. "I'll tell you how it ended. Since there is no point having a cliffhanger." He pull out his sword and stands up to demonstrate.

     "Well the man had her neck in his hands most likely choking her, before she could've fainted he threw her on the ground and backed up to prepare his jump onto her. I saw his plan and intervened to try saving her life." Vic pulls out his scepter and prepares a spell.

     "So he jumped high in the air using his enchanted boots and had his hammer pointed down as he was falling. I set my sword on fire and used my scepter to cast a pull spell on the man. He fell off course next to me, weak from impact leaving Ash safe. After he landed I stuck my sword into the ground to harness the power of the core of Kryptor to enhance a spell that could have enough energy to destroy an entire province. Of course I knew how to use the ability so instead I redirected all of the energy into his body making him explode with fire and light."

 

     The voice returns to me. "Ash, we can make you stronger than these two combined."

     I try to hold back my tears. "I'm stronger than before... I'm better now..."

     "Ash no you are not." The voice laughs. "Right now you are the most useless person in the group!"

     I wipe away my tears and burst into anger. "How do you know if I am the most useless?!" I channel my power through my ribbon blade. "I can cut through hundreds and hundreds of armies!"

     The voice pauses. "Then fight my disciples." 

     More portals open up with lots of men flooding through equipped with hellish gear. I ready my ribbon blade and charge at them.

     The voice laughed. "Good luck Ash."

      I weave myself and my blade through the crowd of men, bunching them together and piercing their armour with the tip of my blade, making them bleed slowly. "Now am I really weak?!" More and more men come charging through the portals, each of them dying to the sharpness of my blade.  I continue to dance through the crowds of people, tying them all up together and commanding my blade to fly through anyone who comes near. I turn back and look at all the bodies laying on the ground. "And they call me weak..."

      I turn to face the portals again only to get knocked down by one of the guys. I fell to the floor, I try to get up but they keep pushing me down... I command my ribbon blade towards several of the men but they caught it! I was defenseless now... The men stopped pushing me down but instead they started to pull on me, taking every part of my armour and clothing one by one...

     The voice called out again but spoke in a different language. The men suddenly all disappeared before they could take my underwear off. "Ash... Do you see why they say so now?"

      I sit still on the ground. "Yes..."

      The voice laughed. "They all think you are useless. Just a pretty creature to have around with no purpose."

      Tears filled my eyes. "Yes..."

      "They don't think you are important Ash. They think you have no meaning or potential."

      I wanted to call out to Vic... But he would rather have someone more useful like Eliza...

      "Ash."

      I try to hold back from letting out the screams inside of me. "What..?"

      "They might see you as nothing... But I see you being more powerful than the gods themselves..."

      "How? I can't even defend myself properly and I'm slow at killing groups of people..."

      The voice giggled. "You have talents that only you and I hold in this world."

      I scoff. "Talents for being annoying and useless..."

      "No Ash, talents for an old ancient dark magic art... That only the two of us hold..."

      I stand up and pick up my clothes. "All I know is how to dance, nothing else. I barely know magic."

      "I'll show you the way Ash. Just follow Vic and the others until we meet. I'll free you from a life of no meaning."

      I look up to where I thought the voice was. "Ok."

      "Good. Now let me show you one last thing that Vic is hiding from you."

      I hear a snapping noise and immediately I was standing in some sort of room... I didn't recognize this place but then I saw Vic...

      "See those two Ash? Vic doesn't love you as much as you think. Look at him more, get closer."

      I feel a sudden force push me closer to the bed.

      I saw Vic and Victoria with my own eyes...

      I stand there still and silent, watching Vic thrust into Victoria more and more. "No this isn't real... This is not the Vic I know... Victoria is captured too!"

      The voice laughs. "Ash you silly girl, Victoria and Vic still see each other when he falls asleep. Sort of like us right now, but with their own private room." 

      I couldn't feel my heart anymore. I couldn't tell if I wanted to cry, yell, or if I wanted to be angry...

      "Ash, you are better than him... Just take my hand and follow me."

      I close my eyes trying not to cry. "Where are you and how do I get to you?"

      "I see you are fully convinced now. Void portal nine. From the sounds of your so-called 'friends' they are coming straight for me."

      I watch Vic and Victoria until they finish their mating. "I'll see you soon."

      "Good girl..."


	9. The Hunt of the False Heir

     We left the cabin hours ago, Ash was still sleeping so we had Brute carry her. It is unusual for her to sleep this long... I hope everything is alright...

     I take a glance at Lilibet. She was looking around the path of the forest almost like she was in some sort of magical land.

     Lilibet notices a little squirrel beside her feet and picks it up. "This must be the creature Victoria made her spirit based on." She pets the squirrel. "What are the chances she is watching us?"

     "I am watching the five of you right now." 

     We all look in the direction of Victoria's voice, only to see Eliza giggling.

     Eliza laughs. "I see that I mimic her voice really well if you all thought she was actually here."

     Lilibet lets out a sigh, puts down the squirrel, and walks ahead of us.

     Eliza frowns. "Aww, I thought that was a good joke..."

     Brute laughs. "You sound like little squirrel!" He almost drops Ash on the floor.

     I roll my eyes. "Let's just keep going. We need to get to her before they enter the void portal."

     Lilibet runs to me and holds my hand. "Teleport us there."

     I pull out my scepter. "But won't our bodies get switched?"

     Lilibet holds my hand tighter. "Just do it."

     Eliza notices the two of us holding hands. "Oh my Vic, if Ash saw you two like that she would definitely try to kill both of you.

     I raise my scepter into the air, teleporting the entire group to an entrance of a large mountain.

 

     Eliza jumps back from the sudden teleport. "What in the goddess's name happened?" She looks around, and to me. "Wait wait wait!" She looks down at her body, unintentionally flashing her chest at me while doing so. "Ok good. I am still myself."

     Lilibet laughs. "So it did work!" She let go of my hand, and trailed ahead of us. "It seems like my power held us all in ourselves."

     Eliza scoffs. "So you tried something you didn't know, risking that Brute would be in the body of Vic?"

     Brute lifts up his head. "Huh?"

     Eliza turns to Brute. "It's ok hun, keep carrying Ash." She looks back at Lilibet with annoyance. "We would all be stuck in someone else's body for all we know!"

     Lilibet summons her bow and looks ahead. "Then be glad that it worked." Lilibet rushes into the entrance of the mountain before us.

     Brute, Eliza and I follow her inside.

     Brute taps me on the shoulder. "Little girl is waking up."

     I pull Ash off of Brute's back and lay her down. "Ash are you ok?"

     Ash rubs her eyes. "I think so..." She looks around but mostly at Eliza, giving her a death stare. "You whore..." she muttered.

     I grab Ash's hand and pull her up on her feet. "We are near the void portal. Hopefully we can find Victoria here too."

     Eliza pulls out her war fans and dashes ahead of us. "I'll check if we have trouble up ahead!" Before she could get far she was stopped by Lilibet, who was running back towards us.

     "I found Victoria!" Lilibet shouted. "She is in a cart being pulled towards the void portal!"

     Brute pulled out his axe and shield. "Must get little squirrel!" He charges in with his war cry already swinging his axe around.

     Eliza facepalms. "I'll go catch up to him..." She flaps her fans towards the raging Brute, keeping the the same speed as him when she got close.

     Lilibet flies towards them too while carrying Ash.

     I take out my sword. "Why is it when they have a race it is always me who is left behind..." I laugh, raising my scepter again.

 

     I look beside me seeing Brute and Eliza to my right, and Ash and Lilibet to my left. I look ahead and see the cart surrounded by a large group of soldiers, along with a women wrapped in chains.

     Eliza stepped forward. "I say we should all just charge at them and kill them all before they realize what's happening."

     Brute's face lit up. "I like pretty lady's plan."

     Lilibet rolled her eyes, "We don't know who those people are, and if they inhibit an angel's power, who knows what they could do to the rest of you humans."

     Ash grunts at our talking and just runs towards the cart.

     Lilibet gasps. "Ash, no!" Lilibet zooms towards Ash with her wings before she can be seen.

     Eliza and Brute look at each other with devilish smiles and runs ahead together with their weapons drawn ready for action.

      _What is up with Ash? She never acts like this..._ I set my sword ablaze and teleport into battle.

     I take a glance around and immediately swing my sword towards the nearest soldier, cutting in half as soon as the others arrive.

     The chained woman turns her head towards us. "We are under attack! Kill the one with glasses!" All the soldiers raise their weapons and target me.

     Ash summons two of her ribbon blades and cuts through a line of them. "I am not weak!"

     Brute and Eliza appear behind the soldiers, with bloodthirsty expressions ready to kill armies.

     The chained woman squints her eyes and sees Brute. "Jacob..?" The women gasps and raises her arms using a spell. "Everyone retreat to the portal! We must tell my mother about the new arrivals!"

     All of the soldiers turn around in unison and follows her leaving the cart behind.

      I rush to the cart and break through the locks with my sword seeing Victoria inside laying on the ground. "Victoria?"

     Victoria wakes up from the floor. "Vic..?" She rubs her eyes and sees me, immediately her expression changed from tired to happy. "Vic!" She jumps out from the cart and hugs me, tackling me to the ground in the process.

     Ash sees Victoria hugging me on the ground and turns away, walking over to the void portal. "I see how it is."

     Victoria gets off me and lets me get up. "Ash wait."

     Ash turns to me and hisses. "Get away from me, I know what you said to Eliza, and what Victoria did to you in her sanctuary!"

     Victoria blushes a bright red and covers her face.

     I run towards Ash but she pushes me down to the ground and runs to the portal,  entering it shortly after the soldiers did.

     Victoria and Lilibet comes to my aid checking if I am ok.

     Eliza scratches her chin. "That was not the Ash that I ever saw..."

     Brute frowns. "What did glasses man and little squirrel do?"

     Victoria blushes more. "Don't question us!" We were only... Talking..."

     Before I can say anything the ground started to shake.

     We all look around us looking for whatever is approaching. Suddenly, a wall quickly emerged from the ground separating Brute and Eliza from the rest of us.

 

** Vic's POV **

     Victoria summons a barrier over me and Lilibet, protecting us from falling rubble.

     After the walls stopped rising, Victoria unsummons the barrier. She helps Lilibet up from the ground and summons her sword. "What did you tell Ash?!"

     I get up and dust myself off. "I didn't tell her anything." I turn to Lilibet.

     Lilibet looks around at the walls. "It wasn't me... But this place is a maze."

     Victoria unsummons her sword. "Oh no I forgot void portal nine was one of the maze designs..." She sweats. "I shouldn't have brought you all here..."

     I get up and pat Victoria. "Don't say that, we brought ourselves here because we need you!"

     Victoria flutters her wings but she couldn't fly into the air. "I can't fly..."

     Lilibet starts to walk towards a path. "It's ok. I know where to go." She walks around the corner, signalling to follow.

     Victoria hugs my arm tight and walks with me behind Lilibet.

 

**Eliza's POV**

     I try to climb the walls but each time I get close to the top, a rock breaks away sending me back down to the ground. "Ugh, I knew this would happen..."

     I look back at Brute.  _Great, it's the idiot._

     Brute puts his axe and shield on his back. "Glasses and little squirrel and little star are behind wall."

     I look at him and giggle. "It's kind of cute when you call them by your own nicknames..."

     Brute tilts his head. "Huh?"

     I roll my eyes. "I like that you call the others by different names."

     Brute gasps. "Pretty lady likes me?"

     I stand still shocked, realizing that he took it the wrong way. "Not like that big guy, just as a companion..."

     Brute cheers. "Yay!"

     I look around the walls and notice two different hallways. "Brute, do you know what a maze is?"

     Brute tilts his head in confusion.

     "Ah, as I thought." I put away my weapons on my back. "Follow me big guy, let's find our way to 'glasses', 'little squirrel', and 'star lady'." I hold myself back from laughing again on how cute those names are.

     Brute and I travel through the maze, sometimes ending up in the same spot over and over again.

     I sit down, with my legs extremely sore from walking. "Brute... I'm tired, let me rest."

     Brute sits down beside me. "Ok."

     I relax my legs, giving them a massage. "So Brute I have a little question for you..."

     Brute looks at me giving me a warm smile.

     "So that chained lady, who was she and why did she call you Jacob?"

     Brute's smile changed into confusion. "I don't know chain lady. But I know I am Jacob before Brute."

     I look down at my legs before speaking again. "Can I call you Jacob instead? You don't seem like a Brute to me."

     Brute took out his axe and started polishing it. "That ok, pretty lady is nice anyways."

     I blush from his compliment. "I'm not _that_ nice."Sure he was dumb, but he was a kind guy...

     Jacob stands up and puts away his axe. "Does pretty lady want me carry her on shoulder?"

     Of course not! I mean... It is Bru-Jacob, so I guess I shouldn't be too worried about him taking a peep at me... 

     I look up at him and smile. "Yes please..."

     Jacob walks over to me and gently picks me up and places me on his shoulder. His hands were very soft despite him being big and strong... "Where does pretty lady want to go?"

     I pull out one of my fans and wave it in the air to cool off. "Try that way." I point towards a gap in the wall, leading into a small grass area.

 

**Vic's POV**

     I follow Lilibet into a snowy area with Victoria.

     Victoria huddles closer to me. "Brrr it's cold..." She makes me wrap my arm around her.

     Lilibet turns to me. "She is faking by the way, angels can not feel temperature and are immune to the effects of extreme temperatures."

     Victoria growls at Lilibet, making Lilibet mind her own business. "Vic likes it when he takes care of me, I was his wife in many different timelines of course!"

     I look down at her confused.

     Victoria give me a quick kiss on the lips and hugs me tighter.

     Lilibet laughs. "Maybe we should give him immortality and immunity to time spells! That way you two can be together forever..."

     Victoria gasps and gets on her knees in front of Lilibet. "Please? Please please please please please?"

     Lilibet rolled her eyes. "Fine. But not the immortality."

     Victoria started to tear up.

     Lilibet shook her head. "Fine, I'll think about it..."

     Victoria jumped up and hugged Lilibet almost to the point kissing her.

     Lilibet hugs her back awkwardly. "Yeah yeah, you're welcome..."

     I felt a sudden shake to the ground and grouped up with the two with my weapons out. "I think we have company..."

     Victoria and Lilibet summon their weapons out waiting for whatever was shaking the ground.

     I felt the source coming from where we were standing. "Girls, move!" I pull Victoria and Eliza by their wings, pulling them to the ground with me.

     Lilibet and Victoria were laying on the ground as if they had an orgasm.

     Lilibet weakly speaks to me. "V-Vic... Don't touch an angel by their wings...." She tries to get up but can barely get into sitting position.

     Victoria stands up, weak but still standing. "Phew... It's been a while since you touched me there..."

     Lilibet stands up shortly after Victoria to slap her. "We are lucky that we are protagonists and we can have an entire conversation before the bad guys show up!" She looks away and crosses her arms.

     Victoria and I look at each other confused. "Protagonists?"

     Lilibet just shrugs. "I'm just saying that don't worry." She draws her bow. "It's not like we are story characters or anything."

     Victoria looks at me in confusion and I just shrug.

     Lilibet lets go of her arrow. "There they are!"

     A creature bursts through the ground, getting shot by Lilibet's arrow as it emerges.

     Victoria and I glance at each other and nod, running towards the monster.

     Lilibet launches a few more arrows into the creature as I grab Victoria's hand and throw her on top of the creature, attacking the bottom half while Victoria slashes the hard outer skull of the creature.

     I take a step back and engulf my sword in flames. "What even is this thing?"

     Victoria gets thrown off by one of the monster's tentacles, landing on her feet. "This is a Sand Karkira, imagine tentacle hentai, but more scary and disgusting."

     Lilibet shifts into her adult form and changes weapons into her spear and shield. She leaps towards the sand karkira, piercing it's hard skull and disorienting it with a strong bash of her shield.

     Victoria giggles. "I must say Lilibet, with that form you look kinda cute." Victoria changes weapons into an angelic cannon. Already charging up shots to fire at the creature. "Vic, you are being more useless than Ash."

     I roll my eyes. "Ash isn't that weak... sure as hell not useless..." I dash into the sand karkira stabbing it's stomach with the edge of my blade.

     Lilibet charges her spear and punctures another massive hole in it's skull. "Vic, these things regenerate fast from cuts, use something else that punctures!" Lilibet takes a step back and keeps the creature stunned with her shield.

     Victoria laughs. "I forgot that I could use a cannon!" She fires another barrage of energy beams at the creature's tentacles, making them explode.

     I step back. "I think I can do something..." I plant the blade of my sword into the ground and hold my scepter from both ends, channeling all of the free energy around me into my sword.

     Victoria glances at what I am doing. "Oh my, it's your signature spell!" She casts a barrier in front of me and starts casting a spell beside me. " _In the will of Arun and Elppans, may the light find it's way to you!_ " She points to me and to me and immediately I feel more powerful, as if electricity was flowing into my body.

     Lilibet looks at us and she hides behind her shield waiting for my attack.

     I keep holding onto my scepter, watching the magic wanting to burst out of it. "Everyone get out of my way!" I point the scepter towards the creature, sending out a beam of lightning and fire, disintegrating the creature into atoms.

     The girls uncover their eyes and see the creature dead. The come over to me laying down on the ground tired from using all my energy.

     Lilibet sighs. "I'll carry him on my shoulder."

     Then everything fades to black.

 

**Eliza's POV**

     Jacob and I were stuck in the grass area for a while now. the door we entered from has closed up and there are no other walls with openings.

     Jacob puts me down on the ground and we look around together. "Hey Jacob let me know if you find an opening."

     Jacob lifts a boulder and nods. "Brute will find something."

     I scan the walls of the room, I notice a grey stone out of place in the sandstone walls. "Hey Jacob I found something!"

     Jacob throws away the boulder and runs to me. "What did you find?"

     I study the stone. "Just this odd looking stone. Seems weird right?"

     Jacob pokes the stone, pushing it into the wall. "Oops."

    The wall began to fall before us. Behind the dust there was a small little lake with a hut. "Oh that's nice..."

     I held Jacob's hand without realizing it and we walked into the hut.

     I go to the walls and look at the pictures on the wall and little trinkets on the table. They all seem familiar...

     I blink while looking at one of the queen dolls and everything around me changed into a grass field. "What the..." I see a young girl playing with dolls beside me.

     "Elizabeth!" A voice called out.

     I turn to the location of the voice. From the tall grass, a young boy came running out with a king doll in his hand.

     "Elizabeth I'm here!" The boy cheered. He sat beside the young girl and hugged her.

     I stare at the two children playing with their dolls. They seemed so familiar to me...

     The young girl looked down at her doll. "So you actually came to meet me..."

     The young boy smiles. "Why wouldn't I?" He caresses the little girl's face with his hand and faced her to him. "Elizabeth you are the best girl I ever met!"

     I felt myself getting dizzy, almost as if I remembered something like this...

     The young girl blushes a gentle red. "I'm not as cool as the other girls... I don't even have magic..." The young girl stood up and walked to a tree. "So why am I the best one you met, Pan?"

     Suddenly I felt the memories rush back into my head. Pan, the next prince to the city throne. He was the first boy that ever treated me kindly... And the same boy I had my first crush on. I step closer to the young girl and notice little fan shaped ornaments in her hair, keeping her curly pigtails together. I study the ornaments and reached up to my own... The little girl was me.

      I step back realizing what this moment is. "Oh my goddess..." I look over to the tree, the boy, and the girl. This was my first kiss...

      Pan follows younger me to the tree and holds her hand. "Magic is just an extra part Elizabeth." He looks into her eyes and tilts his head with a smile. "I don't care if you have magic or not, out of all the girls who talk to me, you were the one who actually went out of their way to spend time with me."

      Both I and younger me blush to what he said. He was right, no one other than me went to his door when he wanted to play, study, or even just be in the presence of a friend.

      Elizabeth looks away from Pan. "I do that because..." She couldn't figure out an excuse.

      I remember that I did it because I loved him, but I wouldn't admit it to anyone.

      Pan looks down at my doll and his own and got an idea. "Hey Elizabeth." He wraps his arm around Elizabeth and guides her to the tree. "I have something to tell you."

      Elizabeth hugs her doll tight in silence, letting Pan speak.

      Pan pulls out a knife and starts carving into the tree. "You know, one day I will be the king of the city..." He continues cutting into the tree forming a big heart with the cuts. "... And I want you to be my queen when I am king." He holds the knife and lends it out to Elizabeth.

      I start to tear up from this moment. I missed Pan so much ever since he left the city to capture an enemy fortress...

      Elizabeth grabs the knife and looks at the carving. She gasps and covers her mouth, seeing a heart shaped engraving in the tree, with an incomplete "Pan x ______" inside. "Pan... Do you really think that I am worthy to you..?"

      Pan rubs Elizabeth's shoulders, comforting her. "Would I be doing this if I thought you weren't?"

      Elizabeth smiles greatly, and I could tell she was about to cry. She reaches out the knife and carves her name into the heart, turning around when she is finished and handing back the knife to Pan.

      They take each other's hands, and lean close together. I watch them, fully in tears from how special this moment was to me.

      Elizabeth closes her eyes and pulls Pan closer giving him a deep long kiss.

      I wipe away my tears and watch the couple take their dolls and place them against the tree, together.

      I watch the two wander off into the tall grass holding hands. Leaving me alone in this memory.

      "I was going to be a queen..." I reach up to the crown on my head and take it off, staring at it in my hands. "But I guess reality wouldn't allow it..." I put the crown back onto my head and everything around me went black again.

 

       I look around once again once the darkness went away. The field once peaceful, green, and calm, was a fiery land of ashes.

       "This is the place Pan's army was pushed back..." I walk over to the tree.

       It still stood, but it was charred from war. check the spot where Pan and I carved our names... It was still there... Almost untouched... I look down to the dolls, they were grey yet not destroyed.

       I hear a war cry from the distance. It was Pan. I ran over to his side to get a better view of what was going on.

      His army charged across the field towards a single man. All with shields and weapons drawn, approaching with caution.

      The single man wielded a large axe. His face covered with an attached crystal mask. He lifted his axe into the air and let out a shout, shortly leaping into the middle of Pan's army, crushing an entire group of soldiers with his body alone.

      I look over at Pan, his face is worried yet he stayed strong. His hand was gripping his sword ready if the man charged at him. But the man with the axe was focused on his army, swinging his axe in spirals, picking up large bundles of soldiers along with it.

      I walk closer to masked man. His might reminded me of Jacob... _It couldn't be him, he only fights for people that he cares about..._  

     The masked man swung his axe into the air, sending all the soldiers he collected flying only for them to explode into flames.

     Pan unsheathes his sword. "Serpentine, he is taking out too many of our soldiers."

     The man named Serpentine spoke. "Pan, I am afraid I can not do anything about that one." Serpentine closes his eyes and holds his hand out towards the masked one. "That brute that is fighting our soldiers is filled with unknown dark energies. If I go in, who knows what sort of dark fire magic that thing can possess."

     Pan sighs and lifts his sword. "All troops, retreat back to the city!"

     The army turns around in fear and runs past Pan. Leaving the masked man face Pan and Serpentine.

     Serpentine grabs Pan's arm. "Pan we need to go too. Your life is too important to fight that thing."

     Pan smiles and looks down at Serpentine. "I have one more trick up my sleeve. Please take care of the army and make sure they return safely."

     Serpentine bows and turns towards the retreating army. "I will make sure they return sire. But if you live or die you will never see me again." Serpentine disappears into the bushes leaving Pan and the masked man alone.

     I cover my mouth. "Pan no..." This is where he died isn't it? For the longest time I still believed that he was out of the city lost... Still alive... It's why I took up so many mercenary bounties. To go out and find him but... this entire time he was dead in the field we first kissed...

    Pan closes his eyes. "Elizabeth I will come home. I promise." He lifts his blade into the air causing a storm.

    I resist from crying. "No Pan go home... Live to fight another day..." I knew he couldn't hear or see me. I was hopeless...

    A shadow emerged from behind Pan and spoke to me. "Elizabeth."

    I look up to the shadow. "Who are you?"

    The shadow laughs and lends out a hand. "I am Pele, I am making a deal to change the past for you." The shadow giggles and pushes me closer to Pan. "Look at him Elizabeth. This is the man you wanted in your life, the man who was going to make you his queen." The shadow turns me to the masked man. "And that is what took him from you."

    I shove Pele away. "It's not like I can do anything about it!"

    Pele sighs. "Yes you can. With my magic you can change your present by defeating Brute in this memory." Pele holds out her hand. "Just shake my hand and we have a deal."

    I hesitate from shaking Pele's hand. "What do I have to do in return?"

    Pele grunts. "Nothing. I am just giving you this offer. So do you want to take it or no?"

    I pull out my war fans. "Yes." I shake Pele's hand and it disappears.

    Pan turns towards me and his eyes widen. "Elizabeth?"

    He can see me now. I open my fans and turn towards the masked man. "Pan, don't question what is happening. Just let me help."

    Pan nods and continues to channel energy into the sky and he chants a spell. " _Elppans, guard the heir with all your might and weigh this darkness against the light!_ "

    A beam of light pierced the clouds and shined on Pan. Pan was being lifted into the sky, being charged with the light.

    Pan drops down from the sky in a glowing angelic-like armour, with wings of fire. "Let's do this."

    My jaw drops after witnessing Pan's ascension. "You're an angel?"

    Pan laughs. "No Elizabeth, I'm just a heir."

    Our conversation was ruined by the cry of the masked man, who was charging at us.

    Pan dashes towards the masked brute, slashing through it with the power of the sun. Pan looks back and sees the brute still standing.

    Pan stands back surprised that the brute survived the attack. "What..?"

    I realize who that masked man was. It was Jacob.

    _So he is the one responsible for Pan's death..._

    I shook my head. "No, I can't kill him..."

    Pele returned. "We made a deal Elizabeth. I know you still want revenge for Pan. So here it is."

    I put my fans away. "I can't kill Jacob... It couldn't be his fault for killing Pan..."

    Pele laughs. "Brute is still Brute. Today and in the past. So he is the one to blame." 

    I pull out my fans again. "Then let me put him down myself..."

    Pele disappears and time continued on. I run towards Jacob and jump into the air, sending fiery gusts of wind with my fans.

    Jacob sees me in the air and throws his axe towards me. I dodge the axe and come crashing down on Jacob, making him tumble to the ground from a kick.

    "This is for Pan!" I shout, as I spin around Jacob, cutting him all over with my fans.

    Jacob gets up from the ground and grabs me by the arm.

    "Elizabeth!" Pan shouts from a distance, charging towards Jacob, bashing him with his shoulder causing Jacob to fall down, letting me go in the process.

    I look down at Jacob and see his mask. Maybe that is what is making him like this... I call out to Pan "Pan, break this mask for me!"

    Jacob gets up before Pan could smash the mask and pushes both of us away, calling back his axe to his hand. "Brute angry!" He hurls his axe at me.

    I barely get away, leaping to the air behind Jacob. "Jacob no, stop this."

    Jacob reaches for his axe and swings at me, knocking me down to the ground. "Pretty lady made big mistake." He lifts his axe into the air ready to execute me.

    Pan clashes his sword against Jacob's mask, cracking it, making Jacob stagger. "Get away from my queen you brute!" Pan pulls me back up on my feet. "You ok Elizabeth?"

    I nod and kick Jacob to the ground, standing on top of him. "Pan now!"

    Pan swings his sword empowered with light against the mask, shattering it completely.

    I get beside Jacob and wipe the crystal pieces off his face. "You ok big guy?"

    Jacob tries to lift his head to speak but falls unconscious.

    Pan sheathes his sword. "Elizabeth, that thing is dangerous. We should end it now while it's sleeping."

    I get up and turn to Pan. "No, this thing is one of my closest friends." I put away my fans and hold Pan by the shoulder. "This is Jacob. He is the strongest man in existence and an excellent guardian."

    Pele emerges from behind Jacob. "Elizabeth you had to kill Brute, for the deal."

    I laugh. "I did. Brute was all in the mask and I destroyed the mask." I shove Pele from Jacob. "The Brute is dead. Only Jacob remains."

    Pele stands still, puzzled of what to do.

    My face turns smug. "Now I did my end of the deal, how about you do yours."

    Pele sighs. "I lied to you, I can not change the past..." The shadow rubs it's chin. "However... I can bring your beloved Pan back..."

    I reach out my hand. "That's good enough."

    Pele grabs my hand and shakes it.

    As soon as Pele shook my hand everything around me went dark again and returned me into the maze, Pan still beside me and Jacob laying on the floor.

    Pan looks around shocked. "Where are we?"

    I ignore Pan's question and wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him once again. "Welcome back alive Pan."

    Pan's eyes widen. "I died?!"

    I rolled my eyes. "I'll tell you once we find a way out of this maze."

    

** Vic's POV **

     I wake up in my office back in the city. I stand up from my chair and open the door to the hallway. "Ash?" I call, not knowing why I am back home.

    At the end of the hallway I see Ash's head peeking out to me from the kitchen. I run after Ash but when I turned the corner there was only Victoria sitting down alone at the table. With a face filled with sorrow.

    She looks up to me and doesn't say a word.

    I step closer to her. "Victoria?"

    Victoria sips her tea in silence looking at me.

    "What happened?"

    Victoria puts down her cup. "What do you mean what happened?"

    I sit down at the table with her. "We were at void portal nine and I fell asleep, ending up here."

    Victoria sighs and stands up. "We failed."

    I tilt my head in confusion "What do you mean we failed?"

    "The angelic powers fell." Victoria's voice got slightly louder with a hint of disappointment and anger.

    I stand in shock. "How did it fall? What happened?"

    Victoria sits back down and sips her tea. "We all entered the portal. We were not prepared against the force behind it."

    "Who was behind the portal?"

    Victoria takes a pause of silence. "Blood mages. An ancient kind of dark magic that we tried to destroy many worlds ago." She started to tear up. "Lilibet and Brute sacrificed their lives so the rest of us could escape..."

    We sit in silence for a while.

    Victoria continues the story. "Brute and Ash sided with the blood mages. Lilibet tried to hold them off while we escaped... She died in the process..." Victoria looks up at me with eyes full of tears. "Then the blood mages reached the angelic powers through the void with Lilibet's soul..."

    I stand up and walk over to Victoria. "What about Eliza? What happened to her?"

    Victoria wipes the tears off her face. "She tried to save the angelic powers by herself." She started to walk away from me. "And she died too since you refused to help us."

    I couldn't believe it. Everyone I knew was gone. All except Victoria.

    I grab Victoria by the arm before she could walk away further. "How are you still here then?"

    Victoria slaps my hand off of her. "Look at me. Do you see any of my angelic parts still?"

    I step back and look at her. I haven't noticed until now that her butterfly wings were gone and so were her squirrel ears and tail.

    Victoria scoffs. "I trusted you that you would come help the angelic powers whenever possible. You even asked us to recreate your life with the memory of protecting us." She turns back to me full of distrust and anger. "But no, you turn your back on us when the greatest threat to the angels arises!"

    I couldn't agree or disagree with her. I would help them... But apparently I didn't... But wait, why don't I remember anything about inside the void? Or anything after that? Something seemed off to me.

    Victoria heads to the door and puts her shoes on. "I can't believe I wasted entire timelines with someone like you."

    I stand in her way and lock the door. "You are not leaving unless you can explain something to me."

    Victoria summons her sword. "Let me go or I will cut through you!" Her eyes were full of rage, just waiting to release it all on something.

    I grab her sword from out of her hands and throw it away. "I thought you were not an angel anymore."

   Victoria's eyes widened at what I said. "I'm not..."

   I laugh. "So this really is all just an illusion huh? Because I know that your sword is considered angelic, and if you are not an angel..." I pull out my sword and put it next to her throat. "Then you are just an illusion."

   Victoria gulps and takes a step back. "Fine, you got me."

   As soon as she said that the room faded away and Victoria was engulfed with smoke.

   A voice beyond the smoke giggles. "It seems that I misjudged how smart you are."

   When the smoke dissipates, a women wrapped in chains stood before me.

   The women steps back and takes a formal bow."I am Pele, blood heir of smoke metal." Pele jumps back and her chains start to glow red, letting off smoke. "Now since you dare to enter my home..." She pulls off some loose chains from her arms, making them melt into the shapes of daggers. "... I will send you into the abyss where you belong!"

   Pele dashes with high speed towards me, swiping fast and swiping sporadically. I pull out my sword after a few times of barely dodging her, parrying her knifes away.

   Pele leaps back and molds her daggers together into one big long sword. "Okay, now let's get this party started!" She jumps into the air with a spin and swings her blade, sending out beams molten metal towards me.

   I cast a dome barrier around me right before the metal hits, causing the metal to mold into a metal sphere upon impact. I dispell the barrier and before I could slash myself out of the metal ball, Pele shreads it apart with dual daggers cutting my cheek with the edge of her blades in the process.

   Pele sees the blood from my cheek and smiles. "Looks like I got the first hit!" She bows once again. "Looks like you are losing now!"

   I take my sword and swing at Pele but before my blade touched her she turned into smoke and appeared behind me, kicking me down to the ground.

   Pele molds her daggers into a large hammer. "Mother said a lot about how you messed up her plans back in a different time." Pele starts to smile again. "But now she can be happy that you will be dead from your own dream!"

   Wait... If this is a dream... That means...

   As I look up and Pele I see a sword pierce through her body.

   Victoria pulled out the sword and pushed Pele aside and helped me back on my feet. "Missed me?"

   Pele gets up from the ground and jumps back. "Oh look, just like mother said. The man is a heir with a sex doll of an angel." Pele's chains on her body grow in length, almost exposing her private areas. "Looks like my hunt just gotten easier.

   Pele throws a barrage chain daggers towards Victoria, commanding the daggers to home in on Victoria while at the same time trying to tie her with chains.

   Victoria slices through the chains of the daggers causing the chains to fall and melt into molten metal when it hits the ground.

   Pele summons even more chain daggers towards Victoria, this time faster.

   Victoria couldn't keep up with the speed and took a few scratches and slices.

   I saw Pele focusing entirely on Victoria so I grabbed my sword and sliced through as many chains as possible, letting Victoria have time to recover.

   Pele saw what I was doing and retracted the remaining daggers while continuing to swing more chains infront of her, using longer and longer chains to increase her reach. I continue to charge towards Pele, grazing a few blades and parrying what I could.

   Pele laughed. "You two are so much fun to play with!" She threw out chains towards me. "But I think playtime is over for you, heir."

   I try to spin around with my blade but the chains overwhelmed me, tying me around like snakes.

   Victoria gasps and rushes to my aid. Pele sees Victoria and threw a dagger at Victoria's blade, causing the spectral blade to shatter and disappear.

   Pele giggles. "Aww look at you two, so defenseless without your tools." She picks up Victoria with her hands and ties her next to me. Pele laughs hysterically. "Heir, do you take this angel as your bride?" Pele falls on her back in laughter. "Looks like it's a no!"

   I can hear Victoria quietly growl with anger.

   Pele stand back up and summons a longsword. She holds the blade next to my head almost like she was knighting me. "Repeat after me, heir: 'I, heir, do solemnly swear and pledge my sword to my angel, my liege, to defend and obey her until she depart her demesnes or death shall take me, and to uphold the honor of knighthood.'”

   I turn to Victoria, her getting more annoyed the more Pele spoke.

   Pele leans in with her ear close to my mouth. "I don't hear you saying anything!" She pulls back the longsword and thrusts the tip of the blade through my torso, piercing through all the chains and cleanly though my body.

   Victoria closes her eyes and fades away, leaving me alone with Pele. Bleeding out.

   Pele looks at me in the eyes. "Aww, looks like you were deserted by your angel..." She laughs. "I feel so bad for you!"

   Just as Pele stopped talking, an adult woman appeared behind her. The woman looked like Lilibet but instead of stardust wings she had large white butterfly ones.... _No way... That couldn't be Victoria..._

   Pele turned around only to be lifted into the air with the magic of the angel.

   The angel spoke. "You dare harm my heir?"

   I was right. It was Victoria.

   Victoria scoffed and threw Pele against the ground, rooting her in place. Victoria spread her wings and hovered high into the air. 

   Pele laughed. "Wow, a heir has  _two_ angels? How weak could he be?!"

   "Silence." Victoria's voice shook the entire room. She was much scarier in this form compared to her normal one...

   Victoria sways her hands in front of her as if she was painting a canvas, creating multiple portals.

   Pele giggles. "Oh wow you can make shiny circles, I'm so scared."

   Victoria ignores Pele and lifts her hand into the air. "It is time for your judgement." She snaps her fingers, opening every single portal.

   The portals open with beams of energy, all focused on Pele, incinerating her body with the power of the universe itself.

   Victoria snaps her fingers once more and detonates the portals, causing them to fracture into stars that bombarded the area Pele once stood.

    I close my eyes from the blood loss, the last thing I see is Victoria hovering over me putting her hand over my eyes.

 

    I wake up beside Lilibet and Victoria, both of them checking if I was ok.

    Victoria gasps. "Lilibet, he's alive!"

    Lilibet smiles. "Thank the goddess... wait that's me."

    I try to laugh at Lilibet's joke but ended up coughing from the pain. "Victoria."

    Victoria holds my hand and leans closer to me.

    I took what little strength I had and pulled her closer to me for a kiss.

    Lilibet and Victoria blush a light pink from the surprise.

    I pull away from the kiss. "Thank you for being my angel..."

    Lilibet looks at Victoria and whispers something into her ear which made Victoria have a face of embarrassment.

    I look to the right of us and see a portal. "So you two found it?"

    Lilibet laughs. "I had to carry both you and Victoria. But I did find it so here we are."

    Victoria lays beside me. "I sensed that something was troubling you in your sleep so I went to investigate..." she starts to tear up. "You almost died..."

    Lilibet hugs Victoria. "It's ok Victoria."

    Before our moment ended, Eliza, Brute and another man came around the corner.

    Eliza called out to us. "Hey we found you guys!"

    Brute and the man followed Eliza to our side.

    Lilibet and Victoria stand up and pin the man down on the ground.

    Elizabeth looks back at them and watches.

    The man struggles under the two angels. "What are you angels doing?!"

    Lilibet stands up and aims her bow at the man. "You are just a shadow of a deceased heir. You are not fooling us."

    Victoria puts her hand over the man's forehead. "Wait... I sense angelic light in him!"

    Lilibet shoots an arrow beside the man. "That's impossible! His guardian saw his death with her own eyes..."

    Elizabeth laughs. "I played a deadly gamble with some girl named Pele, now he is somehow back!" she lifts the man back on his feet and gives him a kiss. "Everyone this is Pan, prince of the city and my other piece since childhood."

    Pan bows down. "It is a pleasure to see everyone." He looks at Lilibet and Victoria and nods. "It is an honour to serve the angelic powers as well."

    Lilibet laughs. "It seems like we have two of the three heirs of this world."

    Victoria tilts her head. "There are three heirs?"

    Lilibet gasps. "I thought we told all the guardian angels that there will be always three heirs ever since the fall of the first world?"

    Victoria looks up, trying to remember. "I must have fell asleep during that part of the examinations..."

    Lilibet frowns. "Remind me to take away your guardian badge when this is all over."

    Victoria giggles. "Remind me to tell your father that you spoke about the previous worlds and timelines in front of mortals that are not heirs!" She points to Eliza and Brute. 

    Lilibet laughs. "Relax, I'm joking."

    Victoria's face turns smug. "Better be."

    Eliza rolls her eyes and pulls me back on my feet. "Well the portal is right here, let's go in already!" Eliza grabs my hand and runs into the portal, pulling me inside.

    The moment my body enters the portal, everything around me except Eliza disappears into darkness.


	10. Malice within the Void

     We emerge on the other side of the void portal, surrounded by an army of soldiers with their energy cannons locked on us.

     The man who seemed to be the captain stepped out. "Do not move or else you will be fired upon."

     Elizabeth and I stop in our tracks as the others behind us still wait behind the portal.

     The captain steps behind the army and the soldiers parted, letting out a familiar looking woman through.

     "Miss me?" It was Pele. "It's funny how you thought I died. We were in your dream after all!" She giggles. "However you and your angel suffer real life consequences thanks to my mother's magic."

     Pele stops in front of Eliza and I and puts out her hand to Eliza. "It's nice seeing you here princess."

     Eliza smiles and shakes her hand. "Nice little game you tried playing with me."

     Pele blushes and tilts her head back laughing. "Here I thought you would actually kill my brother to save your lover yet you spared him and tried to trick me!" Pele smiles. "I like the way you play sis."

     I look at Pele and Eliza, wondering on what happened between the two.

     Pele signals her hand to the captain, turning the army into smoke that trailed through a pathway behind it. "As a thanks of not killing Jacob, I shall escort you to mother, I am sure that she will love your company!" Pele giggles again.

     I wait for Pele to trail off further ahead of us and then pull Eliza aside. "Something doesn't seem right here."

     Eliza sighs. "We should wait for the others."

     Pele stops ahead and looks back at us. "Are you two coming or not?"

     Eliza shrugs. "I'll go slow her down, just wait for the group." Eliza runs after Pele. "Hey Pele! I have a question about your creepy chain clothes!"

     I turn around and watch the portal.

     As I stood waiting I looked around the path. Around us were floating islands, much bigger than the ones in Victoria's sanctuary. Each island had a unique style to it, almost as if each one was created by a different artist. Looking at some of the islands I could feel like I remember something from them, even though this is the first time I seen them...

     The portal shines and hums greatly. Out from the portal the remaining four come through.

     Victoria and Lilibet have their weapons drawn and meets up with me.

     Victoria looks ahead and sees Eliza and Pele. "I thought I killed her!"

     Lilibet aims her bow towards Pele. "Then we have to kill her again!"

     I stand in the way of Lilibet. "No, or not yet at least..." I turn to check on Eliza. "She is taking us to her mother."

     Pan looks around checking the path ahead. "We should trust her for now. Keep your guard up."

     Eliza looks back at me and the other and waves at us.

     I sigh. "Looks like we have to go."

     We catch up with Eliza and Pele.

     Pele looks behind me and sees Victoria and Lilibet. "Oh I see that you brought the angels..." She looks down at her feet and thinks. "I am afraid that mother won't be happy with this... So I apologize, but you will have to come find us." Pele walks away and smiles. "Tree of Life. The angels know where to go."

     Before we could say anything, Pele turns into smoke, leaving us completely.

     Lilibet gasps. "We need to go there now."

     Victoria grabs Lilibet's arm. "What if it's all a trap?"

     Eliza pulls Pan further down the pathway. "Trap or not I wanna see what is going on!"

     Pan laughs. "Here I thought you were shy Elizabeth!"

     Eliza scoffs. "After years of looking for you, I had to overcome that."

     Eliza and Pan run off with each other ahead of us, leaving me and the angels with Brute.

     Lilibet sighs. "I'm sorry but I can't let them near the tree." She grabs Victoria's hands and looks at her in the eyes. "I'll meet you there, just make sure you hurry."

     Lilibet fades away into stardust.

     Victoria summons her scepter and leads us ahead. "Come on boys, follow me."

     I walk beside Victoria. "Where did Lilibet go?"

    Victoria frowns. "She went home." She stares off into the void at a cluster of islands. "She will meet us there however."

     Brute picks up me and Victoria on his shoulders and starts to run down the path. "I know the shortest way to the Tree of Life, something tells me that something bad is happening."

     Victoria and I look at each other puzzled.

     Victoria leans down. "Wait Brute did you just talk in a full sentence?"

     Brute laughs. "Oh yes I did! I don't know why but when I'm in this place, I can feel my mind being charged with energy."

     It seems like Brute has a connection with the void.

     Brute smiles. "From what I can remember, both my sister and mother came from here. So I predict that I was born here too."

     Victoria scratches her chin. "This must mean you have a void dependent disorder..."

     Brute nods and continues to run down the path. "I wouldn't know, but perhaps my mother does."

     I look around the void. "Hey Victoria, what are all these islands?"

     Victoria smiles. "They are all fragments of previous worlds we angels created." She points to an island with a large castle. "That's a fragment of the first world, I was born in that castle!"

     I tilt my head. "You were born as a mortal?"

     Victoria's smile turned from joy into warmth. "Yes... I was the only angel ever that was first a normal human..."

     I pat Victoria on the back. "How did you become one?"

     She blushes and hides her face. "If you knew then you would be confused..."

     I pet her head. "I am already confused, so could  you explain?"

    Victoria sighs and looks away. "Well let's just say I was born into a noble family..." She turns back to me and looks down. "Then they did something to protect the angelic powers and gave their life in the process, leaving me in the hands of Elppans..."

     Brute pats Victoria's head. "I'm sure your family will be remembered by everyone."

    Victoria blushes. "Everyone does remember my family but the younger angels heard stories..." She smiles and looks up at my face with tears from her eyes. "I remember my father the most. He was such a hero to many people, one of the greatest friends you would ever have, and the best guardian you could find..." Victoria lets out a quiet laugh. "However he was quite stubborn when he had his mind set on something... That was something that was funny to me... He never really gave up..."

     Brute snickers. "You are describing Vic aren't you? Vic is your dad?"

     Victoria's face turns redder than scales of a dragon. "No I am not describing Vic!"

     Brute laughs. "I'm joking Victoria."

     I let out a laugh. "I wouldn't mind being your father, you seem like a good little girl."

     Victoria starts sweating and her voice is speechless.

     Brute and I laugh even more as Victoria stayed silent.

 

     I realize that we haven't caught up to Eliza and Pan. "Hey Brute, did you see Eliza and Pan?"

     Brute scratches his head. "I don't think so."

     Victoria points up ahead. "There they are!"

     Up ahead we saw Eliza and Pan arguing.

     Eliza notices us. "Oh there they are."

     Victoria hops off Brute's back. "What is going on?"

     Pan opens his mouth but Eliza interrupts. "He is saying he should go back to the city and tell everyone he is alive before we get to the tree, even after all the effort it took to get to this point."

     Pan scoffs. "I am useless in combat without my angel, and even before the void I couldn't call her."

     Eliza pushes Pan back. "So without your little angel you are just a useless little man aren't you?"

     Pan ignores Eliza and talks to Victoria. "Where did my angel go? Why hasn't she come to me?"

     Victoria sighs. "She had her guardian privileges revoked ever since her failure to protect you from death."

     Pan sighs. "But I am alive now."

     Victoria looks down at her feet. "You died in the first place. That is enough to get a guardian angel replaced."

     Pan stands in silence. "So that means I am no longer a heir?"

     Victoria nods.

     Pan walks past Brute and I. "Looks like I am no use to the rest of you."

     Eliza grabs Pan by the wrist. "What do you mean? You still have a sword and armour, you still can help."

     Pan pulls his arm away from Eliza. "Elizabeth, without my angel, my power is meaningless." He turns back towards to void portal. "So if you will excuse me, I will return home and wait for your arrival."

     Eliza scoffs. "So that's it huh? You are just going to run away?"

     Pan ignores her and keeps walking.

     Eliza grips her fans. "Here I thought you were better than this."

     Pan grips his sword and turns around. "You disrespect me Elizabeth. You are no longer the girl I loved since childhood."

     Eliza opens her fans and dashes towards Pan. "That's because I opened my eyes to see how much of a weakling you really are." She swings her fans against Pan, scraping his armour.

     Pan unsheathes his sword and swings at Eliza, missing every time. "You little bitch."

     Eliza kicks back Pan and throws her fan towards him. "I thought you were brave and caring even before I found out you were a heir." She throws her other fan, cutting Pan's hips on both sides. "But you were never caring for anyone except yourself weren't you?"

     Pan slashes Eliza's arm. "No, as a heir I cared for everyone."

     Eliza sends a strong gust of wind towards Pan, knocking him on his back. "As a heir you say, but even as a heir you are still yourself. You just use the title of being a heir as a cover up." She takes her fans and slashes his legs, immobilizing him. "Now let's see who is a worthy heir unlike you." Eliza grabs his neck and drags him towards me

     Pan grunts, unable to speak.

     Eliza stands on Pan's back and pulls his head up. "Look at Vic, such a perfect heir, caring for others and strong even without his angel."

     I stand in front of Pan, watching him bleed out from Eliza.

     Pan laughs. "And how do you know this random man is not like me?"

     Eliza stomps on his back. "Because I witnessed him protecting others. All before we found out that Victoria is his angel." She cuts his neck, making him still alive but unable to move his body at all.

     Eliza looks up at me with eyes filled with hate and anger. "Do me a favour Vic, and execute him, show him the power of a true heir."

     I stand beside Pan gripping my sword. I look down at Pan laying on the ground. I back away and let go of my sword.

     Pan laughs. "See? He doesn't want to kill me because he is a weakling himself!"

     Eliza lifts Pan's head up. "I think you're wrong. Vic has a heart of gold you see? But I know someone who doesn't."

     Pan coughs up blood. "And who would that be?"

     Eliza takes her fan and slices his throat and stabs his heart. "Me." She stands up and takes a bow.

     Victoria flips Pan onto his back and places his sword in his hands in a sign of respect.

     Eliza kicks his sword away from his body into the bushes. "To hell with him!"

     Brute picks up Eliza. "Elizabeth, calm down. The little prince is dead."

     Eliza struggles in the grasp of Brute, slowly relaxing.

     Brute lets go of Eliza, making her drop to her knees.

     I stand in front of Eliza and hold out a hand with a gentle smile.

     Eliza grabs my hand and stands up with tears in her eyes.

     I wrap my arms around Eliza, wiping away the blood and tears.

     Victoria stands behind us smiling. "I told you that my dad is caring."

     We all look at Victoria in confusion.

     Victoria realizes what she said and turns extremely red again. "Sorry, you reminded me of my father!"

     I grab Victoria by her arm and pull her in, hugging her along with Eliza.

     Brute smiles. "Aww, you all are so adorable." Brute wraps his arms around us, lifting us up in the process.

     Victoria steps away. "We should probably go now, we wasted enough time."

     We all gather together and continue down the path.

     Eliza nudges me. "Vic, do you have healing magic?"

     I nod my head. "I haven't used it in a while but I think I remember it."

     Victoria steps in between us. "I know a lot of healing magic!"

     Eliza shows us her arm. "Can one of you fix this for me?"

     Victoria summons her scepter. "Of course!"

     Victoria pulls her scepter behind her and looks at Eliza. She pulls her arm back and swings her scepter into the air, creating a beam connecting Eliza and her scepter, healing Eliza's wounds.

     Eliza lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank you Victoria." She gives a little kiss on the cheek to Victoria making her blush.

     Victoria rubs her cheek and smiles. "No problem..."

     Eliza looks at me. "Now teleport us there Vic."

     Victoria interrupts me before I could speak. "Teleportation doesn't work in the void Eliza. There are some exceptions like recall spells, but Vic is unable to do so."

     Brute picks up Eliza and puts her on his shoulder. "I can carry you if you are tired."

     Eliza stretches. "Thanks big guy..." She soon falls asleep on Brute, making Brute carry her along the way.

     

      As we walk down the path, Victoria taps my shoulder. "Hey Vic, do you wan't to know anything about previous worlds? This forest? About me? I would be happy to explain some things with you."

     I look around and back to her. "Why do you make countless worlds? Why not keep one and improve it?"

     Victoria sighs. "Well the first world we created was destroyed due to the blood war." She points off into the distance towards a cluster of islands. "Over there is a combination of world one and three, the two worlds that were lost to mortals."

     "How many worlds are there?" I ask.

     Victoria giggles. "Only nine. We add another void portal for every world we create to keep the connections between the void and the normal world stable."

     She still didn't answer my question about why they create new worlds.

     Victoria grunts. "You forgot that I can read your mind..." She shakes her head and smiles. "Well, we like conducting experiments on mortals!" She points to the island with the large castle again. "World one was the first experiment, we underestimated mortal power so we were soon overrun... Well, I shouldn't say 'we' considering I became an angel after the war, and before the destruction of that world..."

     I scratch my head wondering why she was chosen to be one. "So why did they choose you to be an angel?"

    Victoria blushes and looks away as if she was hiding something. "My father needed an angel to become the first heir... I volunteered since there were none to protect him..."

    Brute looks down at Victoria and turns back to me, studying us until his face changed from confusion to surprise.

    I reach out a hand on top of Victoria's head and gently pet her. "That was nice of you, now what happened to your father?"

    Brute stares at me in disbelief. "Here I thought I was not the brightest of folk..."

    Victoria gives Brute dirty glance before shaking her head. "I don't remember where he is now..."

    I look around at our surroundings and spot a small snow white flower on the side of the path. I pick the flower from its stem and gently place it in Victoria's hair. "Maybe one day we will find him."

     Brute rolls his eyes and smacks his head. "Vic, you do realize she lying. This entire time she was talking about you."

   I turn my head to Victoria. "Victoria?"

     Victoria looks down at her feet with her face blushing redder than Eliza's dress. "Yes?"

     I crouch down on one knee and hold Victoria's chin up towards me. "Tell me the truth."

     Victoria stands in silence and lets out a sigh. "Yes. You are my father from the first world..." She grabs the grip of my sword and pulls it out of it's sheathe, holding it in her hands. "You were the first heir ever chosen and you are still alive." She swipes her hand over the blade, turning it into a bright shiny metal. "I offered myself to protect you as your guardian angel..." She hands me my sword with a tearful smile. "... But even now, you still try to protect me."

     Brute's eyes widen. "Wait, if he is your father... Then what did you mean you two were only 'talking'? Did you mean you two had-"

     Victoria summons her sword and holds it against Brute's throat. "Do not question me and what I do to my heir."

     Brute laughs. "You do realize you can not kill me?"

     Victoria's eyes glow with energy as she takes a step back and swipes at Brute, cutting his finger.

     Brute lifts his hand up and looks at his finger. Blood. Brute was bleeding. "Hm. Looks like there is something that can hurt me..."

     Victoria summons her scepter and heals Brute's cut. "You underestimate what I learned about immortal beings."

     Brute smiles. "I don't know if I should be scared of your or impressed of your knowledge."

     Victoria unsummons her scepter and turns away. "The answer to that is yes." She skips down the path leaving me, Brute, and a sleeping Eliza behind.

     Brute turns his head to me. "Congratulations, you're now a father!"

     I smile realizing that I was right about me and Victoria having a connection outside of angelic bonds. "I guess I am."

     Eliza wakes up and rubs her eyes looking around. "Dad?"

     Brute pat's Eliza's head. "Vic is Victoria's dad."

     Eliza gasps and jumps down from Brute's shoulder and tackle hugs me down to the ground. "I knew it!"

     I try prying Eliza off of me but she is squeezing so tight that every time I pull on her arm she just holds on tighter. "How did you know?"

     Eliza gets off of me and laughs. "Because your names are similar!"

     Brute taps on Eliza's shoulder with a concerned look. "Just because their names are similar doesn't mean they are related. It's just a coincidence."

     Eliza stands up as if she was teaching a class. "But out of everyone here, Vic is the laziest one with naming things!"

     Brute shakes his head and continues walking down the path. "We should go, Victoria is waiting for us."

 

* * *

 

     After what seemed to be an eternity, we finally arrive to the "Tree of Life" that Pele spoke about. Once we met up with Victoria we are welcomed with a dark altar that seemed out of place. We walk up to the altar only to see a woman stood on top of it wearing a black robe.

     The woman put out a hand. "Stop where you are." She summons a staff and points towards Victoria. "Who are you and why is an angel here?"

     Behind the woman, Pele is laughing. "Relax mother, these are our guests." Pele pulls her mother away and turns around, whispering something to her.

     The two turn around and face us, Pele's mother lets out a small laugh and smiles. "My apologies, I should introduce myself." She jumps down and stands in front of Victoria. "I am Aponi, mother of Pele and that beast you all brought along with you." She points to Brute.

      Pele sneaks up behind us and pats Victoria's back. "You should meet our scientist behind our efforts in the void, I think you will be interested in what he is doing for us."

      Aponi points towards a hole in the Tree of Life. "He will be inside the tree. Pele, mother requests that you stay here."

      Pele nods and smiles towards me. "Go on now."

      Instead of saying a word, I follow Pele's orders as I want to find out what they are doing here.

      Just as we step foot inside the tree, a man steps out from a room in the back. "I was expecting for you to come here." He scans the room and steps out from hiding. "As for introductions, I am Serpentine. Now follow me, we do not have the  luxury of time at this moment." He returns into the back room expecting us to follow.

      We all follow Serpentine without questioning him, all except for Eliza. "That man, she was there when Pan died." She grips on one of her war fans. "He said about never returning... Maybe this is where he was set up this entire time."

      Brute grunts. "I think something bad is about to happen if we follow him."

      I shake my head, ignoring what everyone is thinking. "We don't know what we don't seek. We should find out, if you two don't want to come then I will go alone."

      Victoria grabs my arm but I glare at her emotionless, making her back away.

      I open the door to the back room and look at the others. "I just need answers. You three can wait here."

      When Eliza opened her mouth I walked through the door and closed it behind me before she could say anything.

      Serpentine looked at me. "Oh it's only you?" He shakes his head. "Doesn't matter, now look." Serpentine pulls on a lever, turning on multiple lights revealing a large stasis chamber with a little girl inside it. Connected by several tubes of what appears to be blood. "See this? She is one of the two remaining blood mages in this world."

       I squint my eyes and stare at the little girl. It was Ash. "Why is she in there?"

      Serpentine shook his head. "Aponi commanded me to conduct this experiment to rush the process of blood initiation. Usually it takes several years to unlock blood magic from within. But for Aponi, she doesn't have years, she has several months before the angels make a final sweep of the void, getting rid of her."

      I stare at the control console filled with buttons and levers. "Is there any way to stop the process?"

      Serpentine sighs. "It has already been completed, I am afraid that once I release her, she will have the power to harvest the souls of even an angel." 

      The three others enter through the door and immediately see Ash inside the stasis chamber.

      Brute grunts and pulls out his axe. "Brute... Must... Protect..."

      Before any of us could react, Brute leaps towards the chamber and disconnects the tubes to the chamber, breaking the glass along with it.

      Serpentine reaches under the control console and pulls out an orange crystal from it's circuits. "That idiot has just released one of the most dangerous beings in existence... My predictions say that we will all die in two days if no one stops her!"

      Victoria realizes what's happening and pulls out her sword. "Vic, I need to contact Lilibet and warn her on what is about to happen. Come with me or no?"

      I grab Eliza's wrist and pull her towards me. "Victoria, take Eliza with you. I'll stay here and save you some time."

      Victoria nods and grabs Eliza's hand, causing both of them to fade away into the angelic sanctuaries.

      Serpentine stares at me. "Heir, do you think that you can stand against a blood mage?"

      I shake my head. "I doubt it, but I may as well try."

      Serpentine laughs at me. "You are an idiot." He crushes the orange crystal and absorbs it's energy. "But as always, with great stupidity comes great rewards."

      Just as our conversation ended we see Brute hovering in the air by Ash's magic.

      Ash laughs. "Oh Brute, one of the strongest of the group yet now nothing compared to me... If that is true, then that means Eliza and Vic are even lower than you."

      Brute tries to speak but his neck was being held so tight that no noise could come out.

      Ash laughs again. "What's wrong Brute? Eliza got your tongue? Or was it that whore of an angel Victoria? Doesn't matter." She pulls him towards her, locking him in place with red magic ribbons. "Well Brute, I'm not going to kill you. Not because I can't, but more like since I want something from you."

      Brute keeps struggling to break free of the ribbons, trying to speak but he still was kept silent.

      Ash pets Brute's head. "I just want your immortality." Ash smiles and snaps her fingers, transforming Brute into a red crystal charm. "Oh such a pretty gem... Can't wait to never release you!" She hooks the crystal on her belt and glares at me. "Oh my, seems like I can get my revenge early." 

      I hold the grip of my sword that's still sheathed. "Ash we can talk this one out."

      Ash scoffs. "After what you pulled on me with Victoria? Not this time." She summons a barrage of daggers all locked on me.

      I unsheathe my sword and hold it at the ready. As Ash's daggers came storming down, I take a small step to the side, causing all of them to miss. "Are you sure you don't want to talk one last time? It's not like you'll hit me, I know your every move."

      Ash growls and summons another flurry of daggers. "That's what you want to think."

     The daggers rained down faster this time, and more accurate. Some of them scraped my skin and a few made cuts deep enough to make me bleed.

     Ash smiles and hold out her hand, lifting me into the air with magic. "You forget I learned new tricks." She clutches her hand tight almost as  if she was choking me and suddenly I felt my throat tighten. "You are nothing to me now."

      I look down at Ash who has a grin of malice. Almost as if she was waiting for this moment ever since we met.

     Just as Ash was about to speak, Serpentine sends out a wave of fire shaped as a dragon towards her, causing her to release her grip and drop me next to a ledge of the floating island.

     Serpentine walks up to me and laughs. "Heir, forgive me for this."

     Serpentine grabs my shoulder and pushes me off the island, causing me to fall into the dark bottomless void.


	11. A Heir's Last Hope

     "Vic? I didn't kill you did I?"

     I open my eyes to see Serpentine crouched down beside me.

     Serpentine sighs in relief. "Good, it seems like my prediction was right." He stands up and looks around the blankness of the void. "I studied this place for so long, and only now I found out what lays beneath the islands. The answer is nothing!"

     I look up and see the Tree of Life being destroyed by Ash. "Why did you help them make Ash into that... thing?

     Serpentine laughs. "I actually made her weaker, but I assume that the process also sped up the blood ascension thing."

     I get up and tilt my head towards Serpentine. "What about blood ascension?"

     He looks up at the islands and back down at his feet. "Well from what Aponi told me, there are only two blood mages left in existence." He pulls out the shattered orange crystal and mends it back together. "Aponi is the one who was awakened, with her powers fully grown. Ash however, is extremely naturally powerful but she was dormant until now. Ash could not use blood magic until Aponi starts her awakening process. Alternatively, she can go through an extreme mental scarring to activate her abilities by venting through violence."

     I shake my head in confusion. "Ash never told me that she was a blood mage."

    Serpentine ignores what I said and goes on a ramble. "Hmm... If we stay here for a while, Ash will destroy almost all of the void... Also my theory is that all blood mages have names that start with the letter A." He turns to me. "Heir, can't you call your angel to pick us up?"

    I shrug my shoulders as I never called for Victoria's help, she just knew when I was in trouble.

    Serpentine laughs. "You don't know how? What kind of heir are you?"

    I grunt from annoyance. "I doubt you know what a heir is incapable of."

    Serpentine smiles. "I do know what a heir could do." He turns around and scoffs. "After all, I was one in a previous world."

    I sit down and scratch my head thinking he's crazy. "Which one?"

    Serpentine steps back in surprise. "There is more than two?!"

    I nod. "According to my angel, I was there for all nine of them."

   Serpentine strokes his chin, taking in all of the new information. "So back to my question. What heir are you?" He pulls out the orange crystal and shows it to me. "For instance, I was the heir of fire. The other heir of this world, Pan, is the heir of lightning."

    I scratch my head unsure of how to answer. Victoria never told me this. "I wouldn't know."

    Just as I said that, a portal opened up beside me.

    Serpentine grasps his crystal in his hands ready for what comes out.

    The portal hums as Victoria passes through. "There you are!"

    Before Serpentine or I could say a word, she grabs our wrists and pulls us into the portal.

 

     We appear on the other side. We were in a giant hall with eight pillars at the end of it. It all seemed familiar to me but I couldn't put my finger on it.

     Victoria continues to pull on my arm, essentially dragging me to the end of the hall. "There is no time to explain, we need to empower you to stand a chance against her."

     I look ahead of us. There were several girls armed with spears and shields, with some carrying scrolls. "Where is Eliza? Where are we?"

     Victoria giggles. "Eliza is under ascension trial, while we are in the angelic sanctuaries. I think the people down there call this place 'heaven' for whatever reason."

     An angel flies down to Victoria. "Victoria are you sure this will work? We never channeled this much energy into a heir before."

     Victoria nods. "It's the one chance we have. Do you have the world core Aria?"

     The angel named Aria summons a large gold orb into her hands. "Yes I do." She looks at me and smile. "Good to see you again, heir."

     Once their conversation ended, we arrived at the end of the hall. I look up to the pillars and see each of them with an angel.

     The singing of the harps stop as the darkness of the room vanishes upon the arrival of an golden armoured man accompanied by Lilibet.

     The man puts a hand on his head on the sight of me. "When something bad happens why does it always come from you two?"

     I didn't know how to respond to him. I never saw him before but he seemed too familiar to me.

     The man uncovers his face and looks at one of the angels. "Did you forget to give him memory persistence?"

     The angels stands still in silents with a confused face.

     The man shakes his head. "This entire time I thought he was just forgetful." He summons a white crystal and smashes it, causing a wave of light to crash into me. "Remember now Vic?"

     Suddenly I could remember everything I experienced. Every world, every single time I restored peace to the mortals and angels... Every time I spent with Victoria...

     I look up to the man. "Yes Elppans."

     Elppans sits down on his throne. "Anyways, now we have a problem on our hands." He waved his hand in the air causing all the doors to close. "A blood mage is crawling up the branch between the Tree of Life and she has the power to defy prophecies and angelic might."

    Aria opens her book and points to some sort of map inside. "Sir, we should transport all the angels to our strongest point of the heavens. We should leave Vic and Victoria here to deal with the blood mage, or at least to weaken it."

    Elppans laughs. "I doubt the blood mage can come bursting through anytime soon."

    Lilibet slaps Elppans. "Dad, we should listen to Aria, she knows the most about the mortals and their power."

    Elppans rubs the part where Lilibet slapped him. "You little-" He sighs. "Very well then. Vic, you better stop her. You know where everything is in this place, now promise me that you can at least get rid of her."

    I nod my head, certain that I could defeat Ash.

    Elppans laughs. "I always liked you Vic because you take any challenge before realizing how difficult they are." He snaps his fingers and everyone in the room disappears, leaving Victoria and I alone.

    Victoria pulls out her scepter. "We should make sure that Ash doesn't reach the world core."

    Before I could respond, the walls burst open. Through the broken wall there was a humanoid figure.

    The dust cloud sets and from behind it, Ash was clearly visible. "You thought you could hide here?" Ash laughs. "Pathetic."

    Before I could respond, she launches a ribbon at Victoria. Wrapping it around her wrists, ankles, and neck.

    Ash laughs again and summons a marionette. "Now why won't you fight that little puppet angel of yours?"

    The ribbons on Victoria glow a bright red and soon takes control of her body.

    Victoria's eyes widen with fear as Ash makes her summon a sword. "Vic... Please help..."

    Victoria swings her sword at me, she was faster than before and I could feel that she was using more power. I unsheathe my blade and parry her next attack, causing me to get pushed back from the sheer impact.

    Ash yawns. "Well this is boring." Her hand with the marionette started to glow. "Lets try out what my toy can really do..."

    The ribbons on Victoria glow brighter as she begins to increase in size, transforming into her adult form.

    I get back up on my feet, ready to withstand everything Ash decides to throw at me.  

    Victoria waves her hand making multiple portals appear from above.

    Ashes eyes bright up from excitement. "Oh I know this trick! Pele said something about it... Before I decided to harvest her soul."

    The portals let out a deafening shriek as bright stars come blasting down towards me.

    "I guess it's time to stop this." I step back and raise my scepter into the air, forcing time to stop before me.

    I walk away from the impact area of the stars and sit behind Ash. "Ash... Why do you have to be like this?" I raised my scepter again, letting time continue.

    The stars turn from my previous position towards my new one.

    Ash continues to watch the stars coming towards her without realizing what's happening. "Please tell me that he died from fear."

    After finishing her sentence the cluster of stars impact her barrier, breaking it. Before Ash could respond, another star struck her, disintegrating the marionette and launching her through the wall and into the courtyard.

    The ribbons on Victoria fade away with the destruction of the marionette.

    Victoria looks up to me while she shifts back into her normal form. "And here I thought you were going to kill me..."

    I grab her hand and pull her back up on her feet. "Was very tempting but I have an idea on how to get rid of her that needs you."

    Victoria laughs. "Then let's do it!"

    I run outside with my sword drawn, scanning the area for Ash.

    Just as I turn my head, Ash appears behind me and throws her dagger, impaling my chest and through my heart.

    She kicks me down onto my knees and grabs Victoria by the neck. "I bet you were expecting a better fight eh?" She throws Victoria beside me. "But you know, this isn't fantasy. When you get hit, you go down. When you go down, you cry every single time a blade digs deeper and deeper inside you." She stomps on the dagger, forcing it through my body and into the ground. "It's funny how when people look at a heir, they think 'oh they are so powerful' when in reality... Well just look at you now."

    Victoria quickly gets up and pulls the dagger out from my chest and swings at Ash, cutting her ankle. "Heirs were never meant to be powerful in strength!"

    Ash kicks the dagger out of Victoria's hand and shoves her away. "But you forget how useful strength is." Ash laughs. "Strength is what allows me to-"

    Before she could finish, an open fan from an alley flew past her.

    I look towards the alley and see an angel holding another fan. "Yeah sure, strength is nice." She calls her fan back, hitting Ash as it returns. "But you really need to get your senses checked hun."

    The angel snaps her fingers, opening several cuts on Ash made by her fans. "Such clumsiness too." She flaps her fans together, hurling a ball of concentrated wind towards Ash, knocking her far away.

    Victoria gets up and runs over to her scepter then back to me. "Vic, look who's here!"

    The angel crouches down beside me and grabs me by the shoulders. "Hello? Are you dead?"

    I shake my head, clearing the dizziness from my eyes. "No..."

    The angel laughs and puts a hand over the hole in my chest. "I'm surprised you haven't recognized me yet!" She lifts her hand and the hole from my chest heals back to it's normal state.

    I look up at the angel's face...  _Eliza..?_ I rub my eyes thinking I was dreaming.

    Victoria laughs. "He recognizes you now."

    Eliza grabs my hand and pulls me up back on my feet. "Now hurry up and do your little plan, I'll hold her off for now. I'll explain everything later after you pay me back with a date." She flies off using her new wings.

    I grab Victoria by the wrist and run towards the world core.

    Victoria looks back at Eliza, watching Eliza dodge every attack that Ash throws at her. "So where are we going?"

    I look down at Victoria. "We are going to the world core."

    Victoria pulls back on my arm stopping us to a halt. "We can't bring her there!"

    I tug on Victoria to get moving but she wouldn't budge. "It's the only way."

    Victoria sighs and changes her scepter into a sword. "As an angel I can not allow that..."

    I roll my eyes. "Then go and help Eliza. Just know that if you die, so will the rest of the angels."

    Victoria unsummons her sword. "Then what is your plan?"

    I smile. "You send her back down into the mortal realm and then we destroy the world core, killing her in the process."

    Victoria's eyes widen. "I'll have to tell Elppans then." She summons a squirrel and whispers into its ear. "Ok let's go then."

    I grab her hand and run down the halls until we come across a large door.

    I look up at the top of the door. "So how do we get in?"

    Victoria yawns. "We need permission from the world builders."

    Behind us we can hear yelling. It was Eliza.

    We turn around and we see Eliza speeding towards us. "Good news, Ash is on her way."

    Eliza points behind her to the end of the hall. "Bad news is kaboom."

    I stand in front of Eliza and Victoria, creating the strongest barrier I know.

    The explosion hits the barrier and strikes the metal doors behind us, blowing them open.

    Victoria pumps her fist in the air. "Woohoo!"

    I run inside and grab the large orb as Ash came storming through the entrance. "Nowhere left to hide, nowhere left to run!"

    Eliza grabs the orb from me. "Vic, hold her off until Victoria is finished."

    I nod and immediately pull out my sword, dashing towards Ash. The clash of metal rings as I swing my sword against Ash's daggers.

    Ash laughs and throws me back. "Goodnight you cheater." She swings her daggers forward, launching a large red serpent towards me.

    I get back up on my feet and teleport out of the way. "Not this time you little bitch." I pierce the scales of the serpent and infuse it with energy, making it explode from overcharging. "Now let's dance."

    Ash smiles. "Now that's more like it." She rides a wave of blood towards me, hurling storms of ribbon blades and daggers at me.

    I step back and dodge the first set of daggers, swinging through each next cluster breaking everything she throws.

    Just as I get close to her she leaps into the air with her daggers in each hand.

    I blink once. "I'm sorry." I blink again and slide beneath her, catching her with through the tip of my sword.

    Victoria calls from behind me. "Vic! It's ready!"

    I drag Ash with my sword through her chest, ready to end it all.

    Before I could reach the portal I hear Ash laughing. "Pathetic...." She grabs the sword by the blade and shatters it into pieces.

    Before I could react she throws me beside the portal. She lifts her hand into the air causing ribbons to tie Eliza and Victoria to the ground.

    She gets on top of me and wraps her hands around my neck. "You forget that now I am immortal!"

    I couldn't breathe. I could feel my energy being drained by the second as well.

    I put my hands around Ash's neck and throw her beside me, making her lose grip. "I've dealt with you for too long." I needed to hurry, the blood loss was going to make me faint at this rate.

    I grab her by the head and throw her into the portal. I look down and see her falling back down into the world.

    My head started getting dizzy and I couldn't balance. I collapsed onto the floor and grab a shard of my sword. I look up and see the world core. I take the orb into my hand and start hacking into it with the shattered sword. My hand was getting cut but it was all worth it. No cost too great to protect the world.

    I raise my arm high and strike the core one last time, making it fracture into pieces, filling the room with light.

    I fall onto my back with relief. I did it.

    I close my eyes.


	12. [NSFW] Even an Heir Can Rest

     I open my eyes from my sleep unable to move. I try looking around but it seems I’ve been blindfolded. I can’t feel my body except for an odd warm feeling near my legs.

     Before I could attempt to move my arms I hear Eliza’s voice. “Well, it looks like you survived!” She grabs my hand and squeezes tight holding against her heart. “It would’ve been a shame if we lost you.”

     I lay my head back down against the pillow still numb. “What happened?”

     Eliza sighs but I can tell she is still smiling. “We won. You destroyed the world, along with Ash.” Her grip loosens on my hand as her voice drops quiet. “... And Jacob...”

     “So my plan actually worked.”

     Eliza lets out another sigh as she gently nods. “However, I guess his sacrifice was worth it...”

     I nod back slowly regaining my strength. “Eliza, why are you still here?”

     Eliza’s mood switches into giggles. “Apparently I’m an angel now. Victoria and Lilibet decide do it would be for the better.”

     I laugh back. “You’re the last person I’d expect to become an angel.”

     Eliza rolls her eyes and takes off my blindfold. “Not just any angel,  _ **your**_ angel.”

     I tilt my head and turn towards her. “Mine?”

     She giggles almost in a flustered way while her face turns a light pink. “I mean, that’s if you want me to...”

     “What about Victoria?” I ask, still not seeing her in the room.

     Eliza puts a finger against my lips hushing me. “Don’t worry.” She puts her hand against my leg and slides it up to a bulge in the blanket. “She’s perfectly fine.” She lifts the blanket revealing Victoria curled up and sleeping on my lap. “I’m surprised how you can hold yourself back when you have this cute little girl around you all the time!”

     I sit up trying to not wake Victoria. “I mean, I am her fath-“

     Eliza laughs at me and rolls her eyes once again. “I bet you still look at her like that every now and then.”

     Just as I try and respond we hear Victoria let out a yawn still with her eyes closed. “He does...” 

     Eliza burst out laughing from Victoria’s response. “Really? I’m not going to judge but, do you two actually-“

     Victoria interrupts Eliza with a long stretch. “Of course... It’s my duty as a guardian angel-...” Victoria falls back asleep on my lap after responding once again.

      Eliza’s eyes widen from the info she was told. “Does that mean I have to..?” She asks curiously unsure.

      I shrug my shoulders. “I think so.”

      I can see Eliza’s eyes light up more than sink from my response. “Well, looks like I have to pleasure you too~”

      I shake my head. “I’m fine, really.”

      

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy story over!!!! Ty for reading and ty for my friends who supported me <3


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